Posted By Paul Kafasis on January 23rd, 2008

Do you like freedom? Sure, we all do. But the freedoms we enjoy in the USA (and many other countries) didn’t come easily, and they aren’t guaranteed to stay. That’s why organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) exist – to defend those freedoms.

When we were organizing MacSanta 2007¹ last November, we decided we needed a way to include only the more serious developers. We considered a participation fee to line our pockets, but opted insted for a charitable donation. And so, every developer who participated in MacSanta 2007 made at least a $50 donation to the EFF (and often, much more). All told, we raised around $10,000 for them in just a couple of days, from over 120 great Mac software companies. Not too shabby!

In response to this, the EFF sent some delightful swag our way along with a kind thank you note. I particularly appreciate the 4th Amendment packing tape, especially since we just ran out of tape due to all the boxes we shipped to Macworld.

But swag or no swag, we’re proud to support the EFF. While everything we create is designed to assist you in working with digital media (and not to facilitate theft), some of our applications are at the edge of changes in digital law. As such, the EFF works to defend our business. Putting that aside, however, I think I can safely say that the entire crew here at Rogue Amoeba personally believes in what the EFF does as well.

So then: do you dislike your fair-use rights being restricted? Do you think warrantless wiretapping is a bad thing? In short, do you value free speech, privacy, and innovation? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should join the EFF. Any donation or swag purchase helps defend your rights in the digital world. You can tell ’em Rogue Amoeba sent you.

Footnotes:
1. I don’t know if there will be a MacSanta 2008 (probably) or when it will start (some time in December). Potential customers should join the MacSanta info list to get email when it goes live (and of course, never any spam). ↩