The Open Rights Group (ORG) is a grassroots, technology-focussed organisation which exists to protect civil liberties whenever they are threatened by the poor implementation and regulation of digital technology. We call these rights our "digital rights".
Our digital rights are affected when the increasing ability of corporate and state entities to store data about our physical make-up, our habits or our communications threatens our right to privacy. Our digital rights are affected when the introduction of computers into the voting process threatens our right to a free and transparent election, or when over-zealous intellectual property legislation, brought into being by the concerns of traditional entertainment conglomerates when faced with new technologies, denies us access to our cultural heritage or threatens our right to freedom of expression. Often, it is simple ignorance that threatens our digital rights: the media and politicians sometimes don’t understand new technologies, but comment and pass laws anyway.
ORG's aims are:
The Open Rights Group was founded in December 2005 by a pledge from 1000 people to "create a standing order of 5 pounds per month to support an organisation that will campaign for digital rights in the UK".
The ORG story started in the summer of 2005, when a group of technology activists organised a panel discussion entitled "Where’s the British EFF?", at OpenTech, a technology and open source conference. The event was received with overwhelming interest and it soon became clear that there was significant support for a UK-based digital rights organisation.
That afternoon, Danny O’Brien created a pledge on PledgeBank, with a deadline of Christmas Day 2005. The pledge read: "I will create a standing order of 5 pounds per month to support an organisation that will campaign for digital rights in the UK, but only if 1,000 other people will too." The pledge reached 1000 people on 29 November 2005, and ORG started accepting donations from its supporters in January 2006.
ORG employs three staff, who are supported by a 23-strong Advisory Council tasked with helping form policy and prioritise issues, a nine-strong board of non-executive directors and a volunteer community of over 50 people who actively help in the running of the organisation. Our patron is the author Neil Gaiman.
