Bits of Freedom

Description

Bits of Freedom is a Dutch foundation, founded in 1999, that works on digital rights and privacy in a digitalising society. It is based in Amsterdam. Staff include policy advisors, researchers, and communications specialists. A board oversees them, acting as employer and guarding the foundation’s financial policy.

An independent advisory council of experts in law, politics, media and communication, business, art and technology meets twice a year. It advises on the organisation’s medium-term strategy. Hundreds of volunteers contribute to its work each year. It is financially supported by thousands of individual donors, dozens of corporate donors, and by foundations and project subsidies.

To safeguard its independence, Bits of Freedom does not accept money from governments or from large technology companies. The organisation is concerned with civil rights in digital contexts, including privacy. It does not handle individual legal problems and instead refers people elsewhere. It points people to Clinic for legal aid, to the Dutch Data Protection Authority for questions about privacy rules, and to the oversight body CTIVD for complaints about the Dutch intelligence services.

Members of its advisory council bring expertise including cybersecurity and privacy-by-design research. One staff biography describes advising on the risks that digitisation poses to civil rights, particularly privacy.