Access Now is an international digital rights organization that defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk worldwide, with particular focus on surveillance, content moderation, and internet shutdowns. Founded in 2009 in response to Iran's suppression of communications during post-election protests, Access Now operates globally with offices in multiple countries, distinguishing it from US-centric organizations like the electronic-frontier-foundation. Schneier serves on Access Now's board of directors.
International Scope and Focus
Access Now's international orientation reflects a recognition that the digital rights battles of the 2010s and 2020s are not primarily fought in American courts or Congress, but in the policy and technical environments of dozens of countries with varying legal traditions, technical infrastructures, and threat models. The organization runs a digital security helpline that provides direct technical assistance to journalists, activists, and civil society organizations facing sophisticated adversaries — often state-sponsored surveillance operations using commercial spyware.
This operational focus on real-world adversaries in real-world threat environments aligns with Schneier's analysis in click-here-to-kill-everybody and a-hackers-mind that the relevant threat landscape is global and that security failures in one jurisdiction create vulnerabilities everywhere. The snowden-revelations demonstrated that surveillance infrastructure is not bounded by national borders; Access Now's work addresses the same structural fact from the advocacy and technical-assistance side.
Schneier's Board Role
Schneier's presence on Access Now's board connects his security-mindset and systems analysis to the organization's policy and technical work. His analysis of feeling-safe-vs-being-safe and security-theater is directly applicable to the surveillance-technology market: governments procure facial recognition, IMSI catchers, and commercial spyware by claiming security benefits that are often theater while the actual harms to civil society are concrete and documented. Access Now's research and advocacy work on these technologies benefits from board members who can assess technical claims and distinguish genuine security utility from sales arguments.
The board role also reflects the alignment between Schneier's security-economics framework and Access Now's approach: digital rights violations are not random or accidental but reflect the incentive structures of surveillance technology markets, government procurement, and the absence of regulatory accountability.