This is a real problem, but on balance serious people seem to take EFF pretty seriously.
It's a much bigger problem for Fight For The Future, which seems to be fueled entirely by melodrama.
Part of the reason, I think, is that EFF has much better on-staff technical (in the conventional sense and the legal sense) expertise than FFTF does.
EFF does get really dodgy in their pure advocacy pieces (these are the "Your Rights Online" stories where EFF doesn't have much to do with the story). They're better in stories where they have a direct role.
It's a much bigger problem for Fight For The Future, which seems to be fueled entirely by melodrama.
Part of the reason, I think, is that EFF has much better on-staff technical (in the conventional sense and the legal sense) expertise than FFTF does.
EFF does get really dodgy in their pure advocacy pieces (these are the "Your Rights Online" stories where EFF doesn't have much to do with the story). They're better in stories where they have a direct role.