Who Can Open Sourcers Support in the CFC?

gov_coder asks: "I was looking forward to supporting the EFF this year in the Combined Federal Campaign, however, I have learned that I can't do that anymore. Looking at the the Public Patent Organization's list of partners, I can't seem to identify an organization fighting software patents that's on the CFC's list. What a government coder to do if they wanna support the fight on software patents through the Combined Federal Campaign?"

Comments

what was the change?

[ghostlibrary]

The article is short on details for why the EFF was dropped. It says, in part:

"the government decided to change the rules and require charities to enforce government blacklists against their own employees in order to be able to participate in the campaign. Charities should not have to investigate their own employees in order to receive these personal funds from government workers."

Umm... what the hell does this mean? Is a 'government blacklist' a secret ops thing, or does it just mean that the charities can't receive contributions from their own employees, or something else?

Since the EFF is demanding action, and the slashdot poster is demanding alternatives, I'll be bossy and demand, well, a clue :)

Re:what was the change?

[JohnFluxx]

I read it to mean:

The government have a list of bad guys. The government wants the charities to check that none of the employees are on this list.

EFF are complaining that this is a loss of privacy.

Personally I think charities should be open for inspection to all, and that a list of banned people from working for charities is a good thing. Charities are too open to abuse as they are.

Re:what was the change?

[quinto2000]

EFF decided on its own not to participate in the government blacklist. The ACLU made the same decision.

Re:what was the change?

[DAldredge]

Isn't that list private?

Re:what was the change?

[Mr. Slippery]

Personally I think charities should be open for inspection to all

Sure.

and that a list of banned people from working for charities is a good thing.

No, it's as stupid as the "no-fly" list.

"Lessee, John Fluxx? There's a John Flucks on the list. Sorry, we can't hire you."

"But that's not me!"

"Sorry, too close. As far as we're concerned your name's on list. Take it up with Homeland Security. Good luck, heh heh."

Meanwhile, you're banned from transacting any business in the U.S..

Re:what was the change?

[JohnFluxx]

So your problem with it is false-positives:?

While I feel this could be fixed, I doubt the competence of them to do this correctly.

Re:what was the change?

[Mr. Slippery]

So your problem with it is false-positives:?

That's certainly a big problem with it. The whole utter lack of due process is another. If you've got real evidence that someone is a terrorist, you don't put them on a no-fly or no-hire list, you put them on the most-wanted list and arrest and prosecute them.

Easy.

[DAldredge]

Do not donate via the CFC and mail the EFF a check directly.

Re:Easy.

[fm6]

Which leads us to our next question: how did a question with such a simple, self-evident answer become an "Ask Slashdot"?

Re:Easy.

[DAldredge]

Who knows? The post crap like this but they will not post stories like these.

Religious Broadcasters against "a la carte" Friday October 01, @18:14 Rejected
Senator: No Tax Breaks For Broadband Friday September 10, @20:43 Rejected
Kerry to leave race. Thursday September 09, @00:52 Rejected
Heckler at Kerry speech says he was assaulted. Thursday September 09, @00:43 Rejected
Russia vows pre-emptive terror hits Thursday September 09, @00:37 Rejected
Computer Scientists Release Study on Venezuelan Re Thursday September 09, @00:32 Rejected
INDUCE Act introducted to ban filesharing. Thursday June 17, @13:00 Rejected
Microsoft media player now runs on Linux Tuesday April 27, @17:25 Rejected
Sveasoft Charging for Firmware (Linux Based) Tuesday March 09, @12:23 Rejected
Howard Dean calls for Internet ID checks Monday January 26, @13:03 Rejected
Best Wireless Card for Linux? Sunday January 11, @00:10 Rejected
RMS fires lead Hurd Maintainer Thomas Bushnell Thursday November 20, @01:33 Rejected
As U.S. high-tech wages slide, fewer jobs may head Monday October 20, @23:23 Rejected
Intel CEO admits: jobs aren't coming back to US Sunday October 05, @21:56 Rejected

Re:Easy.

[gov_coder]

My question specifically reads _THROUGH_THE_CFC_.

If I wanted to know about other ways of donating - I would have asked that question.

I want to be able to tell other feds what OSS supporting organizations they can easily choose to contribute to within the CFC.

Re:Easy.

[Kymermosst]

Do not donate via the CFC and mail the EFF a check directly.

You've obviously never worked for the Federal Government.

It is customary to engage in the use of peer pressure to ensure that every person in an organization donates to the CFC.

The boss gets up and says something like: "It's CFC time again. I'm going to make a promise to you all... if everyone in this Office (or
unit/organization/etc.) donates to the CFC, everyone will get pizza for lunch on Thursday, and a day off next Friday. Now, who wants to sign up right now?"

You didn't want to be the person stopping everyone from getting pizza and a day off.

Can you donate to them anyway?

[Planesdragon]

In NY's SEFA and United Way campaigns, a payroll deduction can be designated to any 501(c)(3) organization, even those not on the list.

You should ask the person running you office's campaign what your options are. Tell them that you want to donate to one particular charity that isn't on the list. If they don't have a process to help you out, just decline to participate in the CFC and send your donation seperately.

Re:Can you donate to them anyway?

[4of12]

This is often true.

The write-in option at my workplace has allowed me to donate to the FSF for several years using only its address:

Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place - Suite 330
Boston, MA 02111, USA

and that it qualified as a 501(c)3 organization.

Usually I still give about 2/3 of my donation to the local United Way - there's a lot of worthy and underfunded organizations under that umbrella.

Some corporations have matching gifts policies to leverage your donation.

For example, in 2004, the Microsoft Matching Gifts program helped someone or some people in their donation of 500-999 to the Free Software Foundation.

More info on blacklist

[hackwrench]

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/22/Columns/New_blac klist__same_o.shtml

Although it's not on the list...

[tcopeland]

....Ruby Central is a worthy recipient of your tax-deductible donation. They arrange and sponsor Ruby conferences and generally support the Ruby community in a variety of ways. There's a Paypal donation link on the front page of RubyForge.

Props to David Allen Black and Chad Fowler who are the prime movers behind RubyCentral!

Re:Although it's not on the list...

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm, WTF does this language-specific organization have to do with ANYTHING?

Re:Although it's not on the list...

[tcopeland]

> Umm, WTF does this language-specific
> organization have to do with ANYTHING?

They support open source - which is the topic of this discussion.

outside of CFC != easy

[gov_coder]

The whole point of the question is;

• given that the CFC has tons of organizations in it
• the CFC makes it brain dead simple for feds to contribute to any of those organizations

Do any of them fight software patents or otherwise support OSS?

Don't say use paypal and call that an answer; it simply isn't.

Feedback

[Quixote]

Just tried to check the lists, but they are in M$ DOC format. Why can't they use PDF, which is more portable than "DOC" ?

If you're concerned about this issue, I'd suggest sending them an email and expressing your views.

CFC Org Listing in HTML

[gov_coder]

I've made a copy of the lists and converted the lists into HTML. THanks OOo!

This should make it somewhat easier for someone to look at - but its still 750+ K (its a huge list).