Peter Eckersley, beloved technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), was a groundbreaking cybersecurity force for online privacy and fairness; he passed Sept. 2 following a brief illness.
Notably, Eckersley founded Let’s Encrypt, an organization responsible for the internet’s shift from insecure HTTP connections to HTTPS to protect users from threats at the network level. The EFF estimates about 90% of total webpage visits currently use HTTPS.
Eckersley’s contributions to the field also include building a tool called Switzerland, which alerts users when their ISP is interfering with Web traffic; net neutrality advocacy; and much more, the EFF announcement explained.
Most recently, he founded a firm called AI Objectives Institute to monitor the malicious use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
“The impact of Peter’s work on encrypting the web cannot be understated,” the EFF announcement said. “Peter’s vision, audacity, and commitment made the web, and the world, a better place. We will miss him.”
