photo of Jillian C. York

Jillian C. York

Director for International Freedom of Expression

Jillian C. York is EFF's Director for International Freedom of Expression and is based in Berlin, Germany. Her work examines state and corporate censorship and its impact on culture and human rights, with a focus on historically marginalized communities. At EFF, she leads coalitions, writes about state and corporate censorship, and contributes to various other areas of the organization's work. Jillian is the author of Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism (Verso, 2021) and has written for Motherboard, MIT Technology Review, and WIREDamong others. She is a visiting professor at the College of Europe Natolin in Warsaw. She is also a regular speaker at global events.

Prior to joining EFF, Jillian worked at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, where she coordinated the work of the OpenNet Initiative and contributed to other projects including Herdict and research into DDoS attacks. She has also worked in fundraising and grant writing, as an EFL teacher, and as a travel writer.

Jillian is a fellow at the Centre for Internet & Human Rights in Berlin and a founding member of the Deep Lab collective. She currently serves on the Open Tech Fund Advisory Council and the Open Rights Group Advisory Council, and previously served on the IFEX Council and the board of directors of Global Voices Online.

Jillian holds a BA in Sociology from Binghamton University, where—like a surprisingly large number of individuals in her field—she also studied theatre. 

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