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Hello ! Would AirVPN be interested in supporting the Electronic Frontier Foundation and/or the Free Software Foundation? No specific project or technology as such. It seems a bit remiss of AirVPN to not support these, in my view . About The EFF The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF champions user privacy, free expression, and innovation through impact litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. We work to ensure that rights and freedoms are enhanced and protected as our use of technology grows. Even in the fledgling days of the Internet, EFF understood that protecting access to developing technology was central to advancing freedom for all. In the years that followed, EFF used our fiercely independent voice to clear the way for open source software, encryption, security research, file sharing tools, and a world of emerging technologies. Today, EFF uses the unique expertise of leading technologists, activists, and attorneys in our efforts to defend free speech online, fight illegal surveillance, advocate for users and innovators, and support freedom-enhancing technologies. Together, we forged a vast network of concerned members and partner organizations spanning the globe. EFF advises policymakers and educates the press and the public through comprehensive analysis, educational guides, activist workshops, and more. EFF empowers hundreds of thousands of individuals through our Action Center and has become a leading voice in online rights debates. EFF is a donor-funded US 501©(3) nonprofit organization that depends on your support to continue fighting for users. About The FSF The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom. We defend the rights of all software users. As our society grows more dependent on computers, the software we run is of critical importance to securing the future of a free society. Free software is about having control over the technology we use in our homes, schools and businesses, where computers work for our individual and communal benefit, not for proprietary software companies or governments who might seek to restrict and monitor us. The Free Software Foundation exclusively uses free software to perform its work. The Free Software Foundation is working to secure freedom for computer users by promoting the development and use of free (as in freedom) software and documentation—particularly the GNU operating system—and by campaigning against threats to computer user freedom like Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and software patents. Why should AirVPN do it? Because: Both organisations routinely make new technologies available which help to enhance peoples freedoms. Not just software-wise either, but hardware too.Both organisations comply with AirVPNs mission on multiple levels. Many kinds of freedom form the basis of free societies. Free speech, freedom of assembly, etc. So what about free software/privacy?The EFF fights the required legal battles that come before or after new technology or laws that limit, constrict and/or endanger us all in more ways than one.The FSF provides a completely different philosophy/approach to hardware and software; namely that it should be completely free. Not proprietary & closed. Eddie being open helps us all.Support will also mean even more support for software like HTTPS Everywhere, which both the EFF & The Tor Project made. AirVPN already supports The Tor Project, so why not add the EFF? Because the FSF is a hardcore supporter of free software & freedom of software provides a range of benefits for everyone: As a software developer, free software lets you build and improve on the work of others, as part of a social community — built on the principles of sharing. As an artist, you can do things with free software that proprietary software does not allow. All free software allows you to use it for any purpose. As a user, free software removes you from the power struggle of proprietary software, where you are able to help yourself and are not dependent on a single developer or company to help you. As a student, you can study and modify the software you use, learning from and enhancing the tools that you use for education. I think it's one thing to support various technical means of opposing state & company control, closedness and censorship, but quite another thing to oppose these things through legal means. Because while technical tools are great, one could argue that we shouldn't, in an ideal world, even need them. But we do, because various laws force us to, if we want to maintain a shred of privacy and security. But whether or not these organisations do battle legally, they both still provide a wealth of different tools and technologies which help advance AirVPNs mission. So in a sense, it's like a package deal ! Even the best VPN in the galaxy won't have much to say in the face of running on a compromised system. Even the best combination of security practices, software & hardware can come under attack when governments give themselves permission to do things that are illegal & immoral for everyone else to do. In addition, supporting organisations which fight the necessary legal battles, could perhaps have direct implications for AirVPNs server locations, as Air writes: Of course there's many parameters to take into account when it comes to server locations; not least cost & infrastructure availability. But I'm sure we can agree that it's easier to set up a server in a country that doesn't have laws or systems hostile to AirVPNs mission statement; perhaps one of the major reasons we haven't had many Iranian and Mainland Chinese servers, hmm? For a primer on what the FSF is really about, you can watch this. Thank you :]

Hello ! Would AirVPN & members be interested in supporting guifi.net? An open, free & neutral Telecommunications Network, which started out as a mesh-network run by 1 guy. I think that even if Air chose not to support it monetarily, it would still be very interesting for a VPN provider to provide advice and/or further support in other ways. But guifi strikes at the heart of AirVPNs hacktivist & activist roots as well. Maybe there could be a partnership between guifi.net & Air in the future? Like their users get 10% off of the price or something. Maybe there's a business opportunity there somewhere. The StoryGuifi was started when a man in Spain couldn't receive network access, due to one of the biggest Spanish ISPs, Telefonica, being sloppy/lazy/careless and/or just not interested in providing him a service. Due to them being a very large company and having an effective monopoly on networking, he decided to start his own business. It started out as just him using long-range directional wi-fi from government buildings to his home, to get access to the internet. But eventually it caught on and others wanted it too. So his network grew and now many many people rely on guifi to get access to the net. It also aligns nicely with the parts of Spain which want independence, that they have their own network, which they control. Once you read this description, I'm sure you'll find this is precisely the sort of thing Air can get behind: guifi.net is a Telecommunications Networks as a Commons. In guifi.net, users promote and invest in telecommunications infrastructure that ensures Internet quality access at a just price. guifi.net network is open, free and neutral to avoid restrictions on content and technology. Anyone can be a user of guifi.net, a network infrastructure that is part of a Commons. The network uses best available techologies, radio and optical fiber, with connections up to 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps Internet interconnections. In 2008, users founded guifi.net Foundation, which objective is work for Network as Commons, develping and applying an economic model basen on management infrastructure as a Commons Pool Resource and Collaborative Economy. guifi.net Foundation is a NGO for Development, a telecommunications operator ans Volunteer organitzation. Transform telecommunications sector. Improve capabilitis of Internet access. Guifi.net Network Terms of Use: You have the freedom to use the network for any purpose as long as you don’t harm the operation of the network itself, the rights of other users, or the principles of neutrality that allow contents and services to flow without deliberate interference. You have the right to understand the network and its components, and to share knowledge of its mechanisms and principles. You have the right to offer services and content to the network on your own terms. You have the right to join the network, and the obligation to extend this set of rights to anyone according to these same terms. Why Air Might LIke ItThe special thing about guifi is that it's an open, sometimes monetarily free network, which follows a lot of principles that Air would agree on; such as Net Neutrality. Many people, especially in rural areas, can't get online, because it's supposedly too costly to get them connected and let's be honest, who needs censorship or data caps to block people from having access, when there's simply no service at all? Just as the Air mission reads: "Circumvent censorship and any other barrier to seek, receive and impart information and ideas without interference and regardless of frontiers". But with guifi, everyone can get connected and it doesn't always cost money (from my reading). But even though this is currently only in Spain, just imagine if such initiatives could spread to other parts of the world! Many americans for instance, either don't get serviced by an ISP at all or have to live with very bad deals/terms. But with guifi, you get more for less. So in short: Open, neutral & unrestricted. Community-run & supported by paying customers and donations. Uses FOSS software & has a robust yet straightforward rulebook Helps people, both rural and non-rural alike, get access to the Internet Fair pricing. Especially compared to corporate ISPs such as Telefonica. Could spawn similar initiatives, which in the long-run, could ultimately help rid the world of greedy, slow, controlling & bad ISPs. Other Interesting Things Here you can see how their network expanded, in a short video. Here you can read a long review of it Please feel free to tell me what you think