Every year, EFF opens nominations to the public to recognize leaders on the electronic frontier who are extending freedom and innovation in the realm of information technology. Their contributions may be technical, social, legal, academic, economic, or cultural. The celebration will include drinks, bytes, and excellent company. Join us!
We are proud to present the 2019 Barlow recipients:
danah boyd: Trailblazing Technology Scholar
Oakland Privacy: Influential Surveillance-fighting Group
William Gibson: Groundbreaking Cyberpunk Author
And joining us as this year's keynote speaker, Adam Savage!
Thursday, September 12, 2019
6:00 pm - 10:00 pm at Delancey Street Town Hall
600 Embarcadero St.
San Francisco, California, 94107
Event Schedule:
6:00 pm Reception Begins
7:30 pm Awards Ceremony Begins
9:00 pm Post-Event Mingling
Tickets are $65 for current EFF members and $75 for general admission.
Special thanks to for supporting EFF and the 2019 Pioneer Award Ceremony. If you or your company are interested in learning more about sponsorship, please contact nicole@eff.org.
EFF is proud to welcome you to the Pioneer Award Ceremony! Check out our Event Expectations for information about how we address harassment.
More About the 2019 Barlow Winners
& Keynote Speaker
danah boyd
danah boyd has consistently been one of the world’s smartest researchers, thinkers, and writers about how technology impacts society, especially for teens and young people. Currently, boyd is focused on detecting and mitigating vulnerabilities in sociotechnical systems. To better understand these vulnerabilities, boyd has been examining the challenges surrounding the 2020 U.S. Census. In 2013, boyd created Data & Society, an independent nonprofit research institute that is committed to identifying thorny problems at the intersection of technology, culture, and community, and advances understanding of the implications of data technologies and automation. danah’s most recent books—“It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens” and “Participatory Culture in a Networked Age”—examine the intersection of everyday life and social media, and have helped families around the world navigate technologies like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. In addition to her work as a partner researcher at Data & Society, boyd is also Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and a Visiting Professor at New York University.
Oakland Privacy
Oakland Privacy is the group behind many influential anti-surveillance fights in Oakland, California and beyond. Oakland Privacy was born in 2013 when activists discovered a Homeland Security project called the Domain Awareness Center (DAC). DAC was meant to be an Oakland-wide surveillance gauntlet—with cameras, microphones, license plate readers—and a local data center to put it all together. But after Oakland Privacy led a ten-month campaign of opposition, the DAC was finally cancelled. Later, Oakland Privacy was one of the primary organizations behind the Oakland City Council’s creation of the first municipal privacy commission in the country, and then continued to be instrumental in bolstering opposition to surveillance around the San Francisco Bay Area and across the United States. For example, Oakland Privacy helped develop a comprehensive surveillance transparency regulatory law mandating use policies, civil rights impact reports, and annual audits, and pushed for its passage in multiple jurisdictions. The model is now in use in three Bay Area cities and other jurisdictions like Seattle, Nashville, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most recently, Oakland Privacy successfully worked to ban facial recognition in San Francisco and Oakland—two of the three cities in the country to enact such a ban.
William Gibson
William Gibson coined the term “cyberspace.” Neuromancer, his first novel, won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Philip K. Dick Award in 1984, and is a groundbreaking portrayal of an unforgiving high-tech future with heroes that are thoroughly flawed human beings who nonetheless resist corporate power by seizing the means of computation. His work presents an incisive look at how technology shapes identity, with sharp, prescient depictions of everything from reality TV to wearable computers. Gibson's canon includes such New York Times bestsellers as the Sprawl trilogy, the Bridge trilogy, the Blue Ant trilogy, and The Peripheral. Gibson’s newest novel, Agency, will be published in January of 2020.
Adam Savage
Adam Savage has spent his life gathering skills that allow him to take what's in his brain and make it real. He's built everything from giant Buddhas and futuristic weapons to fine-art sculptures and dancing vegetables. Savage is best known for his work as a host and producer of MythBusters, which premiered on Discovery Channel in January 2003. Fourteen years, 279 episodes, 1,015 myths, 2,950 experiments, eight Emmy nominations, and 83 miles of duct tape later, that version of the series ended in March 2016. Today, Savage hosts and executive produces MythBusters Jr. as well as a brand new series, Savage Builds, which premiered on Science Channel earlier this year. Savage also stars in and produces content for his website Tested.com, including behind-the-scenes deep dives into multiple blockbuster films. Savage’s recent book, Every Tool is a Hammer, is a New York Times bestseller.
