It's a truism that you can't reason someone out of a belief they haven't reasoned themselves into, but in the hopes that you're actually interested in facts, here are some:

* It's not "apologizing" for Google to insist it doesn't have godlike persuasion powers; it's criticism.

* EFF is not, and has never been, anyone's "mouthpiece"

* A casual perusal of our publications, legal filings, and activities will reveal that we have consistently opposed Google where Google was on the wrong side of things (surveillance, ad-rigging, etc) and backed Google when they did good things (releasing useful FLOSS tools, providing encryption infra). This is how we relate to every company - "when you have your users' back, we'll have your back." We have criticized substantially more than we have defended over the years. This is an empirical question and it's one you can answer for yourself.

* Google isn't, and never has been a major donor to EFF. Google *employees* often make small-dollar donations (as to employees at lots of companies) and Google has a donation-matching program; and courts sometimes *punish* Google by forcing them to send us money (this isn't a "donation").

* EFF's finances are wide open; unlike most nonprofits, we host all our audited books and IRS 990 on our own website - so again, this isn't a matter of opinion, it's a cold, hard, technical fact.