#+TITLE:     Fripost \ndash the Free Email Association
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Note: See the [[file:medlemskap.en.org][membership]] page for more information about how to join.

Technology has never been neutral. The ownership structure of technology
companies and their endeavour for profit ensures that usage of their services
for work and communication will never be free.

At the same time, only a fraction of the everyday Internet users have knowledge
and resources enough to create free alternatives on their own. The question is
also: What can reasonably be expected from an average user in terms of
engagement in their privacy and freedom?

For any one individual, the goal of user freedom may be unattainable. Together,
we can move mountains.

We are proud to present the newly formed Association for Free Email,
Fripost. With a distributed network of servers, Fripost will deliver a free and
reliable email service.

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* FRIPOST \ndash FREE MAILING

Free your mailing!

The Internet is the most important communication medium in the majority of the
industrialised world. For those who take user freedom seriously it is saddening
to see how the Internet has changed from being a highly distributed network to
the increasingly privatised web we encounter today. A few strong parties control
major segments of important infrastructure that millions of users depend on
every day.

** Software as a Service

A concept introduced in the spirit of centralisation is Software as a Service
(SaaS). SaaS means that users perform their computer work on or through a
network server on the Internet or a local network. Examples of SaaS are Amazon
Cloud and Google Docs. One of the main problems with SaaS is that the users has
no control over their data.

** Privacy and Surveillance

With large clientele comes a lot of power. Large transnational operators, such
as Google, are profiting from efficient use of privacy invading
schemes. Together with e.g. Google's email service one also gets things that was
probably not asked for: advertisement, semantic analysis of email contents, and
spying. One part of Google's marketing strategy is to sell the collected
information to third party.


** The Free Email Association

Fripost was founded in order to take back a small, but important, part of our
Internet life, namely the email communication infrastructure. We gather around
several servers that receive and stores the members' email. The reliability of
the service is of course of great importance.


Apart from reliability, also integrity preserving, democratic participation and
transparency are the watchwords of Fripost. The association will never be
interested in the content of its members' emails or other dealings. The
association never supplies information regarding members activities to third
party. Fripost keeps logs, and that is a part of all responsible service. But
these logs are only for reliable maintenance, and will never be used for other
purposes.


All work within the association is voluntary. The association is administrated
by a democratically elected board, and the server administrators are chosen on
democratic grounds.

** What's the Difference?

With mail services on today's market, users have no power over their mailing,
and must follow suit the provider's all whims. In that sense, those services can
never be regarded as free, as in freedom. However, the email service provided
through Fripost is free! This because of the co-ownership of the association's
means and the democratic structure of non-profit organisations. No private
for-profit corporation can offer that, at whatever price.

Through collective organisation, Fripost render it possible for individuals to
bring yet another part of their computer usage under their own control.

User freedom is possible!

** Join Now

So far we have a running test system; the software setup is working, but we have
not yet bought the hardware we want to use. The association rely on donations
and unconditional, unlimited loans, but to achieve sufficient dependability, we
need to do investments in storage and server hosting.

300 SEK -- A small price for freedom

The starting budget needed is about 15 000 SEK. With a member fee of 300 SEK we
will need 50 members before we can really get going.

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| Plusgiro | 477884-1 |
| Bankgiro | 311-5060 |
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You may also use cash payment.

** Participate Even More

Fripost is based on voluntary work. There are always things to do for those who
want to get involved. Most of Fripost's members, however, just configure their
clients and free their mailing.

** More information is available through

[[http://fscons.org/infrastructure/distributed-email-system][Abstract of a talk, given by Gustav Eek and Stefan Kangas at FSCONS, November 2010]].

[[http://fellowship.se/][Fellowship of Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) Göteborg chapter's wiki-page]]

Fripost started as a project within Göteborg Fellowship of FSFE, but is now an
independent association.

A version of this text is available as a [[file:material/leaflet.pdf][leaflet]], which you can print and use to
spread the word.

See the [[file:medlemskap.en.org][membership]] page for more information about how to join. Warm Welcomes!