Peter Eckersley, who earned a Ph.D. in computer science and law from the University of Melbourne in Australia, found a mission in San Francisco: Protecting the world from online snooping.
In 2006, Dr. Eckersley was hired by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group. Over the next dozen years, he evolved from a technologist who advised the organization’s lawyers on technical matters to a leader on a series of software projects that improved privacy on the internet, former colleagues said.