Peter Eckersley

Peter Daniel Eckersley (1978 or 1979 – 2 September 2022) was an Australian computer scientist, computer security researcher and activist. From 2006 to 2018, he worked at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, including as chief computer scientist and head of AI policy. In 2018, he left the EFF to become director of research at the Partnership on AI, a position he held until 2020. In 2021, he co-founded the AI Objectives Institute. While at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Eckersley started projects including Let's Encrypt, Privacy Badger, Certbot, HTTPS Everywhere, SSL Observatory and Panopticlick. Eckersley was an outspoken advocate on topics including internet privacy, net neutrality and the ethics of artificial intelligence. In 2023, he was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame. Early life and education Peter Daniel Eckersley was born in 1978 or 1979 in Melbourne, Australia. His mother was an architect who worked to preserve historic buildings, and his father was an electrical engineer. His father was interested in personal computers, an interest he shared with Eckersley, who began writing software by age six or seven. Eckersley earned his PhD in computer science and law from the University of Melbourne in 2012.