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The Giving Guide, which is available online, suggests laptops, ebooks, 3D printers, and more gift ideas while discouraging shoppers from purchasing products with problems like proprietary software, hardware locked down with digital handcuffs, or ebooks that contain Digital Restrictions Management (DRM).

FSF executive director John Sullivan said, "This year we know it's not just Santa who's making a list--the NSA is watching you, too. Make sure that your holiday gift is free of back doors, security loopholes, and keeps your loved ones' personal information private. Our Giving Guide will help you choose alternatives to bad products like Windows 8 and Macbooks, and give you tips for moving towards software freedom."

The Boston Apple store is one the largest in the world. Apple is known as one of the world's worst patent aggressors, and its computers, tablets, and cell phones run on restrictive proprietary software.

The FSF asks supporters to keep their eyes peeled for more appearances by the gnu in coming months.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

About the GNU Operating System and Linux

Richard Stallman announced in September 1983 the plan to develop a free software Unix-like operating system called GNU. GNU is the only operating system developed specifically for the sake of users' freedom. See https://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html.

In 1992, the essential components of GNU were complete, except for one, the kernel. When in 1992 the kernel Linux was re-released under the GNU GPL, making it free software, the combination of GNU and Linux formed a complete free operating system, which made it possible for the first time to run a PC without non-free software. This combination is the GNU/Linux system. For further explanation, see https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html.

Media Contacts

Zak Rogoff and Libby Reinish
Campaigns Managers
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@fsf.org

It can be purchased from http://shop.gluglug.org.uk.

The FSF has had a call out for a laptop sold with a free OS and free boot system since 2005. Today it announced that the call has been met.

"Finally there is a free software laptop that respects your freedom as it comes from the store," stated Richard M. Stallman, founder and president of the FSF.

The boot programs (such as a BIOS) run when a computer is turned on and their primary purpose is to initialize the hardware before loading the operating system. Computer makers not only install nonfree boot programs, but they also have made it notoriously difficult for free software developers to have access to the necessary hardware specifications and information needed to produce free software replacements.

When a user purchases a product that bears the Respects Your Freedom certification mark, they can be confident they are receiving a product that comes with a free boot program and OS, as well as documentation under free licenses, multimedia unencumbered by proprietary formats, and the assurance it is not known to contain any backdoors and is not designed to share users' information without their knowledge (e.g. spyware).

"This announcement comes at a time when people have a heightened concern over controlling their data and securing their communication. Proprietary software is by nature fundamentally insecure, because it uses both force of law and technological measures to prohibit a user from controlling and securing her own computer. This new complete system runs on free software and is backed by the FSF's commitment to do our best at ensuring respect for your freedom and privacy," said FSF executive director John Sullivan.

The Gluglug X60 laptops are refurbished models of Lenovo's ThinkPad®^† X60. Gluglug has updated the computer by adding a modern wifi chipset, replacing the proprietary BIOS with a free software boot system made by modifying Coreboot to remove all proprietary microcode and proprietary blobs, and replacing the proprietary Microsoft Windows OS with the FSF-endorsed, Trisquel GNU/Linux OS.

"The Gluglug X60 laptop is a major victory for computer users and supporters of the Free BIOS campaign. Not only has Gluglug produced a 100% free version of Coreboot that carries freedom to each user, but it has made it easy and fun to install updates, which in my experience, make real and noticeable improvements to the operation of the laptop. I also found that despite the hardware being a few years old, the Gluglug X60 remains a durable machine that is more than capable of running modern GNU/Linux distro," added Joshua Gay, the licensing & compliance manager who heads-up the FSF's RYF certification program.

Francis Rowe of Gluglug issued the following statement:

Gluglug is very proud to have achieved RYF certification and we will always try to exceed the requirements. The mission of Gluglug is to promote free software in a practical way by making it easy to find a system built for total freedom. With the X60 laptops sold through the site you get everything: free boot program, free operating system, free drivers, free applications. The machines also come pre-fitted with a new 802.11n wireless card that is fully compatible with free software.

The machines come fully loaded with Trisquel GNU/Linux, and they can also have gNewSense or Parabola GNU/Linux installed on request. With the Gluglug X60, you get full source code for all of the tools used to create the boot program, plus documentation. If you want to hack your machine, you can. That's really the whole concept.

You also get updates, so when the Gluglug makes a substantial change to the firmware it ships, you will receive a copy of it along with documentation for how to flash it and tweak it to your needs.

A project like this is especially important in this day and age when more and more devices are becoming locked down with things like Restricted Boot, and containing hardware-based backdoors. The Gluglug provides an opt-out for that kind of mistreatment.

To learn more about the Respects Your Freedom hardware certification, including details on the certification of the Gluglug X60 laptops, as well as information on source code for the device, visit http://www.fsf.org/ryf. Hardware sellers interested in applying for certification can consult criteria at http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/endorsement/criteria.

For those needing to purchase other hardware, the FSF recommends http://h-node.org database, as well as direct users toward hardware sellers that offer laptops with GNU/Linux preinstalled. The FSF is also asking supporters to write to Intel asking for the company to ship laptops with a free boot system to begin with, so that users can buy brand new freedom-respecting hardware in the future.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

About Gluglug

The Gluglug is a Canvey Island, Essex, UK based company dedicated to Free Software. We sell computers that are made to respect the freedom of users to study and hack their machine. Visit http://shop.gluglug.org.uk.

Media Contacts

Joshua Gay
Licensing & Compliance Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
licensing@fsf.org

Francis Rowe
Founder & CEO
Gluglug
info@gluglug.org.uk

^†ThinkPad is a registered trademark of Lenovo.

A group of technology companies, most of whom were implicated in handing user information over to the NSA, recently came together to ask world governments to reform the way they conduct surveillance, according to a set of principles.

Free Software Foundation executive director John Sullivan made the following statement:

"The Free Software Foundation may support one or more of the measures proposed to 'reform government surveillance.' We may end up working with this coalition of companies, after we have had a chance to review and discuss with them what they are advocating. It is encouraging to see recognition from the coalition about one side of the surveillance issue.

However, this problem is not one that can be solved through government reform alone, and there is a danger that focus on these reforms will be flypaper that drains energy for more fundamental change. In addition to policy reform, we must have software reform.

In the US, there were already policies and laws against many revealed spy agency behaviors. These rules are being ignored, or interpreted in ways that maximize surveillance.

The surveillance is actively enabled by these companies' software and technology. Microsoft Windows provides back doors for the NSA. Companies like Google and Facebook build their businesses on the model of consolidating huge amounts of user data, enabling mining of that data, and pulling users away from software run on their own computers to software that is remotely hosted.

Nowhere on the coalition site, or in the open letter, do any of the companies take any responsibility for what is happening. Yet, they have intentionally put their users in a vulnerable position, and exploited them without hesitation. They use copyright, patents, and contracts to insist that the software they publish be proprietary. Or, instead of distributing software at all, they provide it as a hosted 'service.'

Both have the same negative implications for users. The very people using this software are not allowed to see what it is actually doing, nor can they ask for someone else of their choosing to review it on their behalf. The result is a computer that in the end serves only the company who 'owns' the software -- and the governments with whom they choose to share information, or anyone who can find their way to the backdoors.

Furthermore, users need to worry not just about how their information is accessed by the government. They are also entitled to control how it is accessed by corporations. Corporate employees can abuse data in many of the very same ways NSA employees have.

While these companies voice their support for legislative changes they think will address the problem, they continue to drive technology which is on face damaging to everyone's privacy, freedom, and security.

We call on these companies to issue an additional set of principles declaring their support for user control over the software and computers they use. We need a http://reformcorporatesurveillance.org.

Until they do so, they can at best be allies of convenience in this effort. We might support their ideas for new laws, but we must be careful not to invest public resources inventing new policy band-aids to cover wounds they are perpetually re-opening. We won't let this distract us from their ongoing culpability, or the need for radical software reform."

For more information

• "FSF responds to Microsoft's privacy and encryption announcement"
• "How much surveillance can democracy withstand?" by Richard M. Stallman
• Examples of abuses committed via proprietary software
• FSF's campaign against surveillance
• "Who does that server really serve?" by Richard M. Stallman

"Microsoft has made renewed security promises before. In the end, these promises are meaningless. Proprietary software like Windows is fundamentally insecure not because of Microsoft's privacy policies but because its code is hidden from the very users whose interests it is supposed to secure. A lock on your own house to which you do not have the master key is not a security system, it is a jail.

Even on proprietary operating systems like Windows, it is advisable to use free software encryption programs such as GNU Privacy Guard. But when no one except Microsoft can see the operating system code underneath, or fix it when problems are discovered, it is impossible to have a true chain of trust.

If the NSA revelations have taught us anything, it is that journalists, governments, schools, advocacy organizations, companies, and individuals, must be using operating systems whose code can be reviewed and modified without Microsoft or any other third party's blessing. When we don't have that, back doors and privacy violations are inevitable.

While the Microsoft announcement does promise "transparency" to reassure people that there are no back doors in Windows, this is no solution. Transparency in the Windows world normally means self-reports commissioned by Microsoft, or access granted to outsiders covering very limited portions of source code under strict agreements that limit sharing that information.

Freedom and security necessitate not just being allowed a peek at the code. Microsoft has demonstrated time and time again that its definition of a "back door" will not be the same as yours. Noticing that the back door is wide open will do you no good if you are forbidden from shutting it.

The solution after Microsoft's announcement is the same as it was before its announcement. Just like Microsoft's former chief privacy adviser, switch to a free software operating system like GNU/Linux, and don't look back."