Organization Grows with Addition of Attorneys, Technical, and Membership Staff
San Francisco, CA - Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation announced the addition of four new staff members. Kurt Opsahl and Matt Zimmerman join the legal team as staff attorneys, while systems administrator Matt Peterson brings expertise to the technical team and membership coordinator Kyle Pedersen will work on EFF membership development.
Kurt Opsahl graduated from the Boalt School of Law at UC Berkeley and comes to EFF from law firm Perkins Coie, where he was an associate. There he represented technology clients on intellectual property, privacy, defamation, and other online liability matters, including working on Kelly v. Arribasoft, MGM v. Grokster and CoStar v. LoopNet. For his work responding to government subpoenas, Opsahl is proud to have been called a "rabid dog" by the Department of Justice. As staff attorney at EFF, he will work on privacy, surveillance and other constitutional issues.
Matt Zimmerman earned his J.D. from Columbia University. Prior to joining EFF, he worked as the Privacy Fellow at the public interest law firm The First Amendment Project, where he specialized in privacy and open government issues previously, he worked at law firm Morrison & Foerster, where he focused on commercial litigation matters, including patent and technology licensing disputes. At EFF, Zimmerman will be the first staff attorney to dedicate himself entirely to electronic voting issues.
Matt Peterson, EFF's systems administrator, comes to the organization from Surf and Sip, a wireless networking company. He is one of the founders of the Bay Area Wireless User Group (BAWUG), and has spent several years working with nonprofit organizations in Asia to set up wireless networks for regions with little or no Internet access.
New membership coordinator Kyle Pedersen comes to EFF from the Urban Justice Center in New York, where he worked as an activist on mental health issues. He has also been active in tenant's rights causes. At EFF, he will be in charge of servicing our existing members and getting individuals excited about our work so they decide to join.
"EFF continues to attract some amazing talent," said EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "Kurt and Matt are both experienced attorneys who are already up to speed on our issues. And Matt and Kyle are both young and enthusiastic, as well as well-suited to serve in their current roles."
With these new hires, EFF brings its lawyer total up to nine. This is an unprecedented number for the organization. "We have found that our legal expertise is needed on so many fronts," added Steele. "We're ready to continue to make a difference as law develops in the digital world."
Contact:
Shari Steele
Executive Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
ssteele@eff.org
