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231 lines
9.2 KiB
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<html newsdate="2009-08-13" type="newsletter"> |
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<version>1</version> |
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<head> |
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<title>FSFE Newsletter - July 2009 </title> |
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</head> |
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<body> |
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<h1>FSFE Newsletter - July 2009</h1> |
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<p>This month has been full of activity, but one bit of news has cast a |
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shadow over it all. We have learned of the death of Richard Rothwell, |
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who was a prominent and respected advocate for Free Software in |
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education and a Fellow. We are saying farewell to him below.</p> |
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<p>Major activities of the month were: the support of our German Chapter |
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to OpenRuhr initiative, the participation to a Conference hosted by |
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the WIPO, an interesting Fellowship meeting in Berlin, our presence to |
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RMLL in Nantes, and the publishing of our statement about the latest |
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developments in the EU browser case.</p> |
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<p align="right"><a href="mailto:poderi@fsfe.org">Giacomo Poderi</a></p> |
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<h3>Table of Contents</h3> |
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<ol> |
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<li><a href="#1" name="TOC1">Fresh air at WIPO, but old habits die hard</a></li> |
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<li><a href="#2" name="TOC2">A farewell to Richard Rothwell</a></li> |
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<li><a href="#3" name="TOC3">FSFE supports OpenRuhr</a></li> |
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<li><a href="#4" name="TOC4">FSFE booth at RMLL Nantes, France, 07-11 July</a></li> |
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<li><a href="#5" name="TOC5">Fellowship Meeting in Berlin, 09 July</a></li> |
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<li><a href="#6" name="TOC6">The Fellowship interviews: Smári McCarthy</a></li> |
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<strong>In the spotlight</strong> |
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<li><a href="#7" name="TOC7">EU browser case: FSFE says details of settlement will be crucial</a></li> |
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<strong>It happened in the past</strong> |
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<li><a href="#8" name="TOC8">FSFE supporting European Commission in their case against Microsoft</a></li> |
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<strong>Upcoming events</strong> |
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<li><a href="#9" name="TOC9">4th Froscon, St. Augustin, Germany, 22-23 August</a></li> |
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</ol> |
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<p></p> |
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<h3><a name="1"/>Fresh air at WIPO, but old habits die hard</h3> |
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<p>On the 13 and 14 July, in Geneva, the World Intellectual Property |
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Organization (WIPO) hosted the Conference "Intellectual Property and |
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Public Policy Issues" with the aim of reflecting on the consequences of |
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the policies that WIPO promotes. Karsten Gerloff, FSFE's president, |
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attended the event and wrote an extensive report: "Fresh air at WIPO, |
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but old habits die hard". He highlights that the event in itself was a |
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very positive step for the organisation, which is starting to pay |
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attention to the real-world impact of the policies it develops. Still, |
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some troubling old mistakes remain.</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=241">https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=241</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<h3><a name="2"/>A farewell to Richard Rothwell</h3> |
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<p>It is with sorrow that we pay our respect to Richard Rothwell. A |
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Fellow, a brilliant activist and a key figure in the UK Free Software |
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community. On 17 July, Richard passed away, tearing a hole in the |
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network of the Free Software movement which will be difficult to |
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fill. We want to remember him here, and to offer our condolences to |
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Richard's family and closest friends.</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="http://tributestorichardrothwell.net/">http://tributestorichardrothwell.net/</a></li> |
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<li><a href="http://www.richardrothwell.com/">http://www.richardrothwell.com/</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<h3><a name="3"/>FSFE supports OpenRuhr</h3> |
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<p>Our German chapter has decided to support the OpenRuhr initiative. |
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During 2010 in the Ruhr area the 'cultural cities' will set facilities |
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and plan events which will promote Free Software as a cultural technique |
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for creative people in their works. Our German chapter aims at |
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developing informative material to portray Free Software as a cultural |
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technique.</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="http://www.openruhr.de">http://www.openruhr.de</a></li> |
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<li><a href="http://openruhr.de/2009/07/23/fsfe-unterstuetzung-openruhr">http://openruhr.de/2009/07/23/fsfe-unterstuetzung-openruhr</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<h3><a name="4"/>FSFE booth at RMLL Nantes, France, 07-11 July</h3> |
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<p>Rainer Kersten and Michel Roche manned our booth at the 10th |
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"Rencontres Mondiales du Logiciel Libres" (RMLL), which took place in |
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Nantes. RMLL is the most important Free Software event in France with |
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some 5000 visitors. Rainer and Michel had a very busy four days |
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explaining the basics of Free Software, and telling a large number of |
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people about FSFE's work.</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="http://2009.rmll.info/">http://2009.rmll.info/</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<h3><a name="5"/>Fellowship Meeting in Berlin, 09 July</h3> |
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<p>The Berlin Fellowship group met on 9 July at the Newthinking Store, at |
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Tucholskystrasse 48. On the meeting's agenda was an interesting debate |
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with representatives of youth organisations of various political |
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parties. Members of the Junge Union Brandenburg, Jungen Liberalen |
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Brandenburg, Grüne Jugend, Piratenpartei, and SDS.Berlin presented |
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their views about Free Software issues and answered questions from |
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other participants. Lena Simon recorded the event, which we will |
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publish shortly on our Fellowship platform.</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=301">https://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/?p=301</a></li> |
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<li><a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/groups/Berlin">https://wiki.fsfe.org/groups/Berlin</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<h3><a name="6"/>The Fellowship interviews: Smári McCarthy</h3> |
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<p>This month, Stian Rødven Eide interviewed Smári McCarthy: a thoughtful |
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anarchist and practical chaos technician with a deep interest in Free |
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Software and democracy. The interview addressed various aspects of |
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Smári's life from his work at the Fab Lab, to the Icelandic Society for |
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Digital Freedoms, concluding with his views on a "crowdsourced |
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democracy".</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=72">https://blogs.fsfe.org/fellowship-interviews/?p=72</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<h2>In the spotlight</h2> |
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<h3><a name="7"/>EU browser case: FSFE says details of settlement will be crucial</h3> |
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<p>In 2007, Opera Software presented the European Commission with a formal |
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complaint regarding Microsoft's tying of Internet Explorer (IE) to its |
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operating systems. We decided to follow the development of this issue |
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and we officially offered our help as interested third party to the |
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Directorate General for Competition.</p> |
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<p>On January 2009, the European Commission DG Competition issued a |
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statement of objections against Microsoft which recently led the |
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company to consider a settlement. While the offer of a settlement is |
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an important achievement for the European Commission, we believe that |
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it is the details which will make all the difference. A settlement |
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that simply looks good will not be enough. We need to be sure that any |
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agreement between Microsoft and the Commission really puts Free |
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Software on an equal footing with proprietary competitors, and allows |
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for free competition in the web browser market.</p> |
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<p>Our press release, which outlines some details of the settlement that |
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should be carefully considered, is available here:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="/news/2009/news-20090728-01.html">https://fsfe.org/news/2009/news-20090728-01.html</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<p>Relevant links:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="https://lists.fsfe.org/pipermail/press-release/2009q1/000231.html">Press release</a></li> |
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<li><a href="https://lists.fsfe.org/pipermail/press-release/2009q1/000228.html">Press release</a></li> |
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<li><a href="https://download.fsfe.org/policy/letters/20071219-opera-antitrust.pdf">https://download.fsfe.org/policy/letters/20071219-opera-antitrust.pdf</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<h2>It happened in the past</h2> |
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<h3><a name="8"/>FSFE supporting European Commission in their case against Microsoft</h3> |
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<p>Five years ago, Microsoft appealed against the European Commission |
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antitrust decision. The Directorate General for Competition called for |
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cooperation upon FSFE and Samba. A call that we did not miss: on 27 |
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July 2004 we had already participated to the preliminary hearing of |
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the appeal in Luxembourg. That was the beginning of what would become |
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the greatest success for FSFE and for Free Software in the legal field |
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in 2007, when Microsoft was ordered by the European Court of First |
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Instance to share interoperability information with the Samba team.</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="https://lists.fsfe.org/pipermail/press-release/2004q3/000069.html">Press release</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<h2>Upcoming events</h2> |
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<h3><a name="9"/>4th Froscon, St. Augustin, Germany, 22-23 August</h3> |
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<p>We will be present with a booth at the 4th Froscon in St. Augustin, |
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Germany. The conference is organised by the Department of Computer |
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Science of the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, with the |
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help of Fachschaft of Computer Science, LUUSA and FrOSCon e.V. |
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For coordination we will use the booth@ mailing list and the Fellowship |
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Wiki.</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li><a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Froscon-2009">https://wiki.fsfe.org/Froscon-2009</a></li> |
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<li><a href="https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/booth">https://lists.fsfe.org/mailman/listinfo/booth</a></li> |
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</ul> |
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<p></p> |
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<p>You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on</p> |
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<a href="/news/newsletter.html">https://fsfe.org/news/newsletter.html</a> |
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<p>You can join the Fellowship and find how to support us on</p> |
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<a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">https://my.fsfe.org/donate</a> |
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<a href="/contribute/contribute.html">https://fsfe.org/contribute/contribute.html</a> |
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<p>You can order our merchandise at</p> |
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<a href="/order/order.html">https://fsfe.org/order/order.html</a> |
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</body> |
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</html> |
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