Free Software Foundation Offers Benefits and Merchandise In Its Annual Fundraiser (fsf.org) 27
An anonymous reader writes:
The Free Software Foundation is holding its annual fundraiser, with a goal of attracting 600 new members by the end of December. (New members so far: 112.) "We are still fighting the oppressive nature of proprietary software," explains the campaign's web page. "We have made solid inroads, and the community is as passionate as ever."
As a 501(c)(3) charity the group's membership dues are all tax deductible, and associate memberships are just $10 a month ($5 for students). They come with special benefits including up to five email aliases in the member.fsf.org domain, eligibility to join the nonprofit Digital Credit Union, free admission to the annual LibrePlanet conference in Boston, and 20% discounts on FSF merchandise and GNU gear (including this delightful stuffed baby gnu).
And for its special year-end fundraiser, different levels are also eligible for patches, backpacks, a thermos, and a public thank you at gnu.org. "With your things neatly organized in a backpack covered with patches, and coffee forever to go, you will be ready to fight for freedom!"
And finally, they've also created images to share on social media, writing thta "It is not always easy to explain to your neighbor or friend what free software is, or why it is so important. But taking the time to explain it, and motivating the people in your community to think critically about how much control they actually have over their software is the only way to keep our community growing and counter the billions of dollars that proprietary software companies use to strip our user rights."
As a 501(c)(3) charity the group's membership dues are all tax deductible, and associate memberships are just $10 a month ($5 for students). They come with special benefits including up to five email aliases in the member.fsf.org domain, eligibility to join the nonprofit Digital Credit Union, free admission to the annual LibrePlanet conference in Boston, and 20% discounts on FSF merchandise and GNU gear (including this delightful stuffed baby gnu).
And for its special year-end fundraiser, different levels are also eligible for patches, backpacks, a thermos, and a public thank you at gnu.org. "With your things neatly organized in a backpack covered with patches, and coffee forever to go, you will be ready to fight for freedom!"
And finally, they've also created images to share on social media, writing thta "It is not always easy to explain to your neighbor or friend what free software is, or why it is so important. But taking the time to explain it, and motivating the people in your community to think critically about how much control they actually have over their software is the only way to keep our community growing and counter the billions of dollars that proprietary software companies use to strip our user rights."
Cookies (Score:2)
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On my work PC, yes I get this all the time now. I had assumed it was a "Corporate Win10" feature as I don't get it on any of my own devices running various operating systems, Work iPhone, my own Android or even a RaspberryPi.
As soon as I move to the next page in /. I get message telling me how much they value me etc.
GDPR (Score:3)
A lot of sites are putting these notices in place to try to avoid liability under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other recently enacted laws requiring positive consent before tracking a user's browsing habits.
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Cookie notices from link aggregators (Score:2)
Slashdot is a link aggregator. The publishers of the featured articles have their own respective privacy policies and cookie settings. If you read articles on five different websites, you can expect to get five different cookie consents.
Or is Slashdot repeating cookie consent even for internal links, such as from the front page to the story page with comments? You might have a misbehaving incognito setting or cookie blocking extension that's causing same-domain sites, such as hardware.slashdot.org and yro.s
Re: (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The fight needs to shift (Score:4, Insightful)
I think you're right, but I wonder how to get to this result. Lobbying does not strike me as the FSF's best suit. The FSF's greatest achievements were to develop a compelling system of truly free software, and developping the GPL itself. By doing this, the FSF created products that embody, demonstrate and further the Free Software agenda.
This points to what I think are the FSF's two best strengths. Those would be activism through software engineering, and the GPL as an inspired bit of licensing judo. I greatly admire the FSF and I know they have access to considerable legal insight, but I doubt they alone could undertake a lobbying effort of this magnitude with much hope of success. It's just not what they do, and I'm concerned that refocusing on lobbying would drain resources away from their other vital ongoing contributions.
I think banding with other like-minded organizations, some of which are focused on lobbying, might have a better chance.
Respects Your Freedom certification (Score:3)
activism through software engineering
Free software isn't very useful without freedom-respecting hardware to run it on. This is why FSF has instituted the Respects Your Freedom(TM) certification program [fsf.org]. However, most manufacturers appear to be uninterested in RYF.
As for your other point: Lobbying is also outside the scope of a charity like the FSF.
Re: (Score:2)
As is the case with many things, your best bet is to find the biggest pockets that agree with you and have them take up the cause. So maybe IBM since they own Red Hat now.
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IBM took awhile before they became a big friend of free software, but they did so long before they acquired Red Hat.
Do Not Donate (Score:2, Informative)
DO NOT DONATE
The Nazis who have taken control of the "Free" Software Foundation purged St Richard. That cabal of raging asshole corporate tools purged a fucking saint, a Father of the Internet, a World Free Software Hero - on the flimsy pretext he had somehow offended the feelings of a hyperprivileged Nazi who designs deathbots for the US military industrial complex.
I have donated to the "F"SF many times in the past. NEVER AGAIN.
Re: (Score:2)
He's a saint! All he did was publicly support a colleague for working with a pedophile behind MIT's back! How dare people criticize him!
So of course he had to respond by quitting. After all, people criticized him for supporting a guy who worked with a pedophile! Imagine how hurt he must have been!
Re: (Score:3)
He fucking didn't. Read what he actually wrote.
'"If someone in csail says in this discussion group that Minsky was accused of sexual assault, a very serious accusation, and someone else in csail thinks that he was not, should the latter person refrain from saying so in this same discussion group out of concern that the conversation will leak and be misconstrued by the press?"
The in stands for "science". Thejob of scientists is to evaluate evidence and seek truth. We have a social responsibility to do that
Re: (Score:2)
I 100% agree with you.
This cancel culture/mob culture/make you quit if we don't agree with you culture needs to STOP.
Scary times are afoot if you can "get fucked" by having an opinion, right or wrong.
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Re: Do Not Donate (Score:1)
Some people think proudly displayed ignorance is a shame, and it's bad to be an apologist for someone you believe is an intolerant Nazi, others think it's OK! Both sides!
Benefits and Merchandise (Score:2)
Blue tarps, army surplus coats and a free turkey Christmas dinner at the mission.
Any GNU toenail clippers? (Score:2)
I'd pay ten bucks for a set. Put a promo link in the coreutils manpage for cut(1).