For more than three decades, Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has been at the center of the fight to protect privacy, free expression, and innovation online—taking on the NSA’s mass surveillance programs, defending encryption, and pushing back against efforts to weaken digital security in the name of safety. In her new book, Privacy's Defender, she reflects on the landmark cases that shaped the modern internet, the values that guide EFF’s work, and why privacy is not about hiding wrongdoing, but about preserving human autonomy and democracy in a networked world. Rainey Reitman, co-founder of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, leads our conversation.

Grab your copy of Privacy's Defender: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262051248/privacys-defender/ 

This conversation was recorded on 02/23/2026.

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