It campaigns on numerous issues including mass surveillance, internet filtering and censorship, and intellectual property rights.

The organisation was started by Danny O'Brien, Cory Doctorow, Ian Brown [d], Rufus Pollock, James Cronin, Stefan Magdalinski, Louise Ferguson and Suw Charman after a panel discussion at Open Tech 2005.

[9][10] The group was honoured in the 2008 Privacy International Big Brother Awards alongside No2ID, Liberty, Genewatch UK and others, as a recognition of their efforts to keep state and corporate mass surveillance at bay.

[14][15][16] The group campaigns against the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport's plan to switch to an opt-out model for cookies.

[17] The organisation, though focused on the impact of digital technology on the liberty of UK citizens, operates with an apparently wide range of interests within that category.