[FSFE PR][EN] "Join the Fellowship and protect your freedom!"

[Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)]

"Join the Fellowship and protect your freedom!"

Fellowship programme of FSFE launched to defend freedom in the digital
age.

"We stand up to protect our freedom to shape and participate in a
digital society that respects liberty and privacy." With this slogan,
the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) started its fellowship
program at the FOSDEM fair for Free Software last weekend in Brussels.

The resistance against software patents has shown that it is possible
to change things, but it has also shown that we need to do more. While
we were and still are defending ourselves against software patents,
other issues -- old and new -- could not be addressed as they should
have been.

"Global players aiming to spread their monopolies and business-models
are excerting influence on many levels through technology, legislation
and money.", Stefano Maffulli, Italian representative of FSFE says and
concludes: "If our freedom is to be preserved, we need more shoulders
to support the work and more people to raise their voice."

Fellowship comes at EUR 120,- (EUR 60,-) per year. All Fellows receive
a login on the Fellowship portal, a site to meet, communicate and
cooperate. Fellows can write blogs, share experience in forums and
remain informed about the latest news. Through this approach, it is
possible to bridge initiatives and people to stand united and
raise our collective voice. In addition, all fellows receive an email
alias @fsfe.org, a visible sign of their connection to the Free Software
Foundation Europe.

As a practical feature to strengthen their privacy and security, all
Fellows receive a unique, personalised OpenPGP compliant SmartCard
programmed and handled by Werner Koch, author of GnuPG and Head of
Office of the FSFE. With this SmartCard, all Fellows can communicate
securely and privately through digital signatures and encryption. 
In addition, this protects your logins and data on disk, among other
things.

"This card is a a state-of-the-art hardware token for many different
applications, such as encrypting your email. Through this card, we put
the power of protecting data and privacy into the hands of all our
Fellows. We seek to make this power available to all, raising
awareness for privacy and security issues", Werner Koch explains.

"In the past years, we have worked to the peak of our abilities and
beyond. We have seen that we can make progress, but also we had to
realise that the battle has only just begun. Defending our collective
freedom is something we need to do together. Consider this your call to
arms," says Georg Greve.

Please join the Fellowship at http://www.fsfe.org/



About the Free Software Foundation Europe:

   The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a charitable
   non-governmental organisation dedicated to all aspects of Free
   Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate
   in a digital society. Therefore the Freedoms to use, copy, modify and
   redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition-
   allow equal participation in the information age. Creating awareness
   for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and
   giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are
   central issues of the FSFE.  The FSFE was founded in 2001 as the
   European sister organisation of the Free Software Foundation in the
   United States.

   Further information: http://www.fsfeurope.org


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Thank you very much for your interest.

-- 
Joachim Jakobs <jj at office.fsfeurope.org>
Press Speaker - FSF Europe (http://fsfeurope.org)
Heinrich-Heine-Str. 3, D-67134 Birkenheide (Tel: +49-179-6919565)