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Free Software Foundation Announces 2013 Holiday Giving Guide
An anonymous reader writes "On Cyber Monday, millions of Americans will take to the Internet in search of the newest gadgets to bestow upon their loved ones. Most of these 'gifts' are trojan horses that will spy on their recipients, prevent them from doing what they want with their device, or maybe even block access to their favorite books or music. The Free Software Foundation is proud to introduce a map through this minefield: our 2013 Giving Guide. The Giving Guide features gifts that will not only make your recipients jump for joy; these gifts will also protect their freedom."
So give the gifts to your techie friends. Or give the list to your non-technie family and say 'buy something from that list for me for christmas, family'.
Who wouldn't want a 3D printer, libre laptop, or non-NSA-compatable internet file storage?
1. trojan horses that will spy on their recipients: Xbox 360, Xbox One, all cellphones, Smart TVs.
2. block access to their favorite books: Kindles, iPads/iPhones.
3. block access to their favorite music: iTunes hasn't used DRM on their music files since April 7, 2009 and as far as I know Amazon sells plain MP3 files so I'm not sure what they're talking about in the case of music.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Many of the comments here seem to insinuate you have to be delusional to enjoy and desire 100% free software. I'd like anything on that gift giving guide. I'm not a paranoid delusional. My paranoia is based on plenty of evidence, and is tempered by practicality. However, that's the tiniest of concern compared to the other benefits offered.
I wouldn't necessarily gift that stuff to folks who wouldn't appreciate it, but I'd recommend the guide to folks looking to allocate resources on my behalf. I also know several young folks that would appreciate the gifts. My niece really loves tinkering with technology, and is always "pestering" me to play with our toy languages, toy OSs and electronics and robotics projects. She wouldn't have known where to begin if it wasn't for the gift of free software.
Having an OS and supporting software that's fully free and open source has been a huge benefit in our learning and teaching endeavors, especially as references to how stuff works. Doesn't anyone remember the joys of discovering how to code? While some kids took apart dad's drill, I took apart my boot sector and had no one to look to for help. I wasn't lucky enough to have a mentor or access to an open source OS -- or even a free & open compiler -- when I was trying to learn how the CS wheels were invented. I was amazed when I discovered I could just use the DTR pin of a serial port (instead of the then incomprehensible to me RS232) to control switch on a model train set. I'd have been ecstatic to have working source code for something like LIRC or blown away by a 3D printer, and I know my niece will love them too. I know for a fact she's get plenty of enjoyment demonstrating to her friends her creations via her own portable OS shaped like a key.
What's best is knowing that unlike on proprietary systems, when I'm asked, "but how does it do that?", I can always say, "Hmm, I don't know. Let's see!"
I can see what they're getting at but every single choice there is only better if you value "software freedom" above all else, and even in some cases they seem to be acting deliberately obtuse. For example you can install GNU/Linux on a Macbook Pro and not only will you have far superior hardware than the thinkpenguin solution but you have the choice to use whatever OS suits you for a particular task.
Then there's Google Drive, sure it's free and your data is accessible to Google but if you want "cloud storage" you can't guarantee that data will always be private no matter who you host it with and if need further protections you will obviously encrypt it anyway.
And what does mediagoblin vs youtube have to do with "gift giving"?
The idea that most people will value software freedom above all else is idiocy so instead they need to focus on making good products, products that appeal to most people and compete with non-free products. At the moment many (not all) things in that list are examples of free (as in freedom) resulting in a crappier product. "Free" needs to result in an equal or better product in comparison but also have the advantage of being free.