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Dear Free Software
Supporter,

We worry a lot in the free software movement about whether the general
public can be convinced of the importance of software freedom. I know
*you* care deeply -- that's why you're receiving this email. We depend
on your financial and moral support to educate and to raise awareness
around the world.

If you need proof that there's a wide audience for free software
values, look no further than [Apple's][1] latest marketing campaign,
which focuses exclusively on user privacy. In their commercial, they
say, "Your devices are important to so many parts of your life. What
you share from those experiences, and who you share it with, should be
up to you."

[1]: [link removed]

Exactly! That Apple's extensive market research has led the company in
this direction means there is also great potential for us to mobilize
people who don't yet know about free software.

While free software does not guarantee privacy, it is a precondition
-- because privacy is about control over your devices, and free
software is the only kind of software that users fully control. It is
not sufficient for users hungry for apps that will respect their
privacy to be offered only choices from the limited menu of programs
allowed by a gatekeeper like Apple. Nor should users be choosing only
between programs that must be accepted as is. They should be able to
commission or modify specific features, and share the result with
others. Otherwise, they are never truly in control of their privacy --
their options are always constrained by some entity above them.

The result, as we know, is a race to the bottom, or at best, to the
middle. We can have much better, by removing the unethical restraints
companies like Apple place on users. Even while those restraints still
exist, we can continue building and improving the free software users
actually need in order to have freedom and the values it makes
possible, like privacy.

FSF staff have been working hard for everyone's freedom:

* We're raising awareness and inspiring collaboration, by hosting
online events like [LibrePlanet 2021][2] -- which had almost 1,300
people register, and demonstrated that you can run fully online
events using only free software.

[2]: [link removed]

* We're fighting in the US for total repeal of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act's provisions enforcing Digital
Restrictions Management, and for harm-reducing reform through its
exemptions process. Over 240 individuals supported [our
comments][3] to the Copyright Office during the most recent round,
and now we are seeing some tentative signs of success in at least
blunting the most acutely harmful aspects of this broken system.

[3]: [link removed]

* We're supporting free software development by providing core
infrastructure used by thousands of developers worldwide, and
helping specific projects like [Replicant][4], which, under our
fiscal sponsorship, is hiring a community manager to advance its
critical work on mobile device freedom.

[4]: [link removed]

* We're providing useful services, like our [Jitsi
videoconference][5] system, which has enabled members to keep in
touch with friends, family, and collaborators, without sacrificing
their freedoms to the false idols at Zoom.

[5]: [link removed]

* We're adding important masonry to strengthen the Foundation's
foundation, like modernizing its [governance][6], improving
transparency, and recruiting new board members to help lead the
organization into its future.

[6]: [link removed]

Your support has been and will continue to be vital to all this and
more. It's what enables us to get so much done so efficiently. This
year, we received a perfect score from the ratings group [Charity
Navigator][7] -- a first in our history.

[7]: [link removed]

Can you deepen your commitment by joining with thousands of
like-minded others as an [FSF associate member][8]? You can start for
as little as $10 per month ($5 for students), or $120 per year, and
you'll help us reach our [summer fundraising goal of $50,000][9]. Plus,
you'll be able to enjoy all of our [member benefits][10], which include
merchandise discounts, a 16GB bootable membership card, and use of the
videoconferencing server. Any [donation][11] you can make furthers our
reach, and enables us to help others make their own journey to
computing freedom. If you're on social media, we encourage you to
share the importance of free software with your friends and followers
by using the [#UserFreedom][12] hashtag. It may seem like a small
thing, but using your voice is the best way to draw others to the
global free software movement.

[8]: [link removed]
[9]: [link removed]
[10]: [link removed]
[11]: [link removed]
[12]: [link removed].

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Together, I know we can do
this. Let's ride the momentum created when companies like Apple
plaster billboards and TVs with depictions of the problems faced in
our modern software-based society, and let's point the way to real
solutions to these problems. While proprietary companies are busy
racing each other to the middle, we'll race all the way to the actual
finish line.

Yours in freedom,

John Sullivan
Executive Director


--
* Follow us on Mastodon at <[link removed]>, GNU social at
<[link removed]>, Diaspora at <[link removed]>,
PeerTube at <[link removed]>, and on Twitter at @fsf.
* Read about why we use Twitter, but only with caveats at <[link removed]>.
* Subscribe to our RSS feeds at <[link removed]>.
* Join us as an associate member at <[link removed]>.
* Read our Privacy Policy at <[link removed]>.

Sent from the Free Software Foundation,

51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-1335
United States


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