Most of these "gifts" are trojan horses that will spy on their recipients, prevent them from doing what they want with their device, or maybe even block access to their favorite books or music.

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The Free Software Foundation is proud to introduce a map through this minefield: our 2013 Giving Guide. The Giving Guide features gifts that will not only make your recipients jump for joy; these gifts will also protect their freedom.

Here are some of the gift ideas based on the 2013 Giving Guide:

Help your parent or sibling upgrade to a laptop that comes preinstalled with GNU/Linux.

Get yourself a Lulzbot TAZ 2.0 3D printer and make 3D-printed stocking stuffers for the whole family.

Give a membership to the Free Software Foundation, or make a donation on behalf of a friend to another worthy organization, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation or Creative Commons.

You can give copies of the Giving Guide to friends and family to encourage them to get you gifts that respect your freedom. And as you do your own holiday shopping, think about giving the gift of free software, and the hardware that supports it, to your loved ones.

If you plan to "give freely" this year, shout it from the rooftops! Please share the Giving Guide with your networks on identi.ca and other social media sites you use (we're using the hashtag #givefreely).