Are you giving your loved ones holiday gifts they can use freely, or something a company will control?

Electronics are popular gifts for the holidays, but people often overlook the restrictions that manufacturers slip under the wrapping paper. Companies like Microsoft and Apple can and will use Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to prevent your loved ones from sharing apps on the laptop you got them or remixing the songs on their expensive new iPod. If the recipient of your gift is as unlucky as one woman this year, Amazon might even block all the books on their Kindle and refuse to explain why. Companies want us to accept this kind of intrusive control, but when you think about, it's unethical (and annoying!).

Give freely

The good news is, for every device that uses DRM or has a remote "kill switch" like the Kindle, ethical companies have made a better one that doesn't, one that your loved ones will be free to enjoy however they wish. Here's a list of these smarter gifts, compared with their more well-known, but more restrictive alternatives. While you're reading, please remember that donating to a charity in your friend or family member's name is at least as meaningful as buying them an electronic device. Some of our favorite charities are the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, Software Freedom Conservancy, Software Freedom Law Center, and GNOME Foundation.

The Free Software Foundation's Holiday Giving Guide

The gifts in the left column respect your freedom much more than those in the right column.

Please share the Giving Guide with your friends and family members, especially those that might give you presents! (We're using the hashtag #givefreely.)

Operating System: Give the gift of free, flexible, and ethical computing

Trisquel GNU/Linux Completely free operating system: transparent and modifiable

Support community development

Break the cycle of forced upgrades and planned obsolescence

Visit trisquel.info to download the gift of GNU/Linux Windows 8 Proprietary software that profits from controlling how you use your computer

Invades privacy and exposes personal data to Microsoft and to malicious attacks

Dependent on mandatory upgrades and devices that don't support older versions of Windows

3D Printing: Give the maker in your life a 3D printer that promotes innovation, or buy one for yourself and 3D print all your presents this year!

Lulzbot AO-100 3D printer Respects Your Freedom certified by the Free Software Foundation

Powered by free software, making 3D printing more accessible and encouraging innovation

Learn more about the Lulzbot at www.lulzbot.com Makerbot Replicator 2 MakerWare software is proprietary, restricting freedom and stifling innovation

Hardware patents threaten free printers like the Lulzbot

Recently announced an increasingly proprietary approach, further distancing itself from the free software community

Gift Cards: Giving a gift card this season? Give one that has benefits the recipient can keep.

FSF Membership Card Join with over 3,000 active members and become part of a community working to make a better world built on free software

Enjoy a host of member benefits including free admission to the LibrePlanet conference

Membership donations are tax-deductible in the US

Get your gift membership today at www.fsf.org/associate

For a smaller gift, donate in a friend's name at fsf.org/donate. iTunes Card The iTunes store uses DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) on everything it sells except music to control what you can do with your purchases

Apple claims (wrongly) that you don't actually own anything you buy from the iTunes store

Requires proprietary software to use, including to download DRM-free music

Laptops: Give a top-of-the-line laptop that comes with fewer strings attached

ThinkPenguin GNU/Linux Notebook Free software compatible wifi and 3D-accelerated graphics chipsets--run any fully free GNU/Linux distribution you choose

Comes preinstalled with free software for a no-hassle experience

This laptop is not fully free--it uses proprietary boot firmware. However, this laptop is one of the most freedom supporting models currently available.

Choose up to Intel i7 processor, 16GB RAM, 480GB solid state hard drive, and 15.6" screen

Visit libre.thinkpenguin.com and www.gnu.org/links/companies to shop for fully free GNU/Linux compatible laptops Macbook Pro Runs on proprietary software that restricts the user's freedoms

Apple's App Store uses DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) to restrict what you can do with your purchases

Planned obsolescence: business model forces you to buy new devices frequently

More limited specs: Maxes out at 8gb memory, a 512gb solid state hard drive (or 1T 5400 rpm hard drive), and up to 15.4" screen

Ebooks: The readers in your life deserve digital libraries that won't disappear on them

Project Gutenberg The original purveyor of DRM-free eBooks

Enjoy the freedom to read your ebooks on any device

All of the ebooks on Project Gutenberg, including classics like Peter Pan and Huck Finn, are gratis

Pick out the perfect books for the whole family at www.gutenberg.org or from other DRM-free ebooks sites Amazon Amazon can remotely block or delete individual ebooks or your entire library with no warning or explanation (they've done it before--read about it here).

DRM prevents you from sharing your favorite books with friends

Amazon claims you don't actually own or control your ebooks

Thanks to DRM, you won't be able to transfer your books to any other reader

If you have ideas for more gifts that can be given freely, submit your recommendations to our growing page at libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:Giving_Guide_2012.

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