It isn’t exactly a secret that I am a fellow of the FSFE, or Free Software Foundation Europe. If you’re reading this, you probably already know that FSFE is a non-profit whose goal is to promote and work for free software, which is software that guarantees you four essential freedoms:
- the freedom to use the software, in any way you want;
- the freedom to share the software with whoever you want;
- the freedom to study the software, through access to its source code;
- the freedom to improve the software, by fixing bugs or adding new features yourself.
The point of this post is not to give a course on free software, so if you have been living in a cave for the past 15 years or so and would like to know more about free software, then you can check the FSF (FSFE’s sister organisation in America) website, Wikipedia, or plenty of other online resources.
Last weekend, FSFE has started a new programme for individuals to show their support to the free software cause: supporters. Anyone can become a supporter of FSFE, at no cost. The FSFE will keep you updated about its activities by sending you an email a few times a year. Being a supporter is the easier and cheapest way of showing your support to free software, and helps FSFE to get a better idea of the number of people out there that care about the software they’re running and using. If you want to get involved a bit more, you can subscribe to the FSFE mailing list to be kept updated about events and discussions. You could of course also make a donation to help FSFE continue its mission.
If you want to become more involved in FSFE, you could consider becoming a FSFE fellow (like me). The fellowship scheme has been in place for a few years now, and allows individuals to become involved in FSFE operations, attend meetings, etc. If you become a FSFE fellow, you will get an @fsfe.org email address (it’s actually a redirection), a jabber/XMPP address, a GPG smartcard to sign and encrypt your emails or any other files, a blog, a page on the fellowship wiki, etc.
The free software movement needs you, and it only takes a few seconds to register as a supporter. Do it now!