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Helping somehow feels easier in December than in all the other months… as long as we can find the time between chasing shopping deals and gorging ourselves on Christmas treats. We take helping others seriously, which is why we could not miss the opportunity to once again donate funds to those in need. This month’s open source project and foundation were chosen by another first-timer – Jędrzej Przybyszewski, one of our programmers.

Privacy Badger

A browser add-on which filters network traffic and blocks elements which may be malicious. While add-ons such as AdBlock prevent certain pages and their elements from being displayed, Privacy Badger blocks unwanted tracking mechanisms:

• cookies which store data such as page language or preferred products in online stores, and which are used to compile visitor statistics

• referrer headers which contain information on how the user found the site

• ETag tracking – which is abused by certain websites to track user activity even after disabling cookies

„Users being spied on by websites is nothing new. This kind of monitoring is sometimes beneficial – it results in products and services which better match our needs. However, I am not a fan of sharing all information with every website, which is why I really like Privacy Badger,” says Jędrzej.

Niechciane i Zapomniane (Unwanted and Forgotten)

A non-profit organisation which has been combating animal homelessness for 12 years. It seeks new homes for abandoned animals, promotes their microchipping and registration, as well as treating and educating them. It runs an adoption centre in Łódź, where volunteers can resocialise animals and prepare them for adoption, even when previously mistreated by humans.

„Numerous animals are abandoned every winter – mostly as irresponsible Christmas gifts. The volunteers of the Unwanted and Forgotten foundation have their work cut out for them during the season. I believe that their determination is truly priceless. Thanks to their efforts, abandoned animals have the chance to live healthy lives in new homes,” adds Jędrzej.

Our way to get through November? Instead of firing up the stove, by warmly giving something to others: helping the needy and those who develop open source projects – often at the expense of their own time. This is the first time that supported ventures are chosen by our programmer Piotr Zieliński.

WinSCP

Graphical SFTP client for Windows with useful features such as:

• support for the portable version,

• file synchronization,

• multiple sessions running at the same time.

For Piotr, this solution is useful in his everyday work. “It allows me to very quickly preview the contents of files (e.g. environment files) located on servers. Thanks to synchronization, I can open the file in a text editor and edit it without having to manually move it between the local computer and the server”, our programmer said.

W człowieku widzieć brata (To see a brother in others)

The organization has been working for more than 10 years for the benefit of lonely, disabled, homeless, sick, elderly people and those who for other reasons cannot cope with everyday life. It provides equal opportunities for children and youths. The foundation is also a partner of the Pajacyk program, under which it gives meals to children in schools in Łódź.
“The name of the foundation aptly reflects the essence of its activity – supporting those who have found themselves in a difficult situation and who are threatened with social exclusion”, said Piotr.

If you are a member of the Sidnet team, we leave you no choice but to support those who need it. This time it was our programmer Filip Sergot’s turn to select valuable projects. Although the creators of Brave, his favourite browser, refuse to accept donations, we still chose to describe this particular initiative. Labradors from the Prima Foundation – you lucky dogs! As a result of this unusual turn of events, you are going to receive a double donation this month 😉

Brave.com

It is a browser created to give more guts to the most aware of the Internet users.

It effectively counters the fear related to online privacy:

• It blocks the ads and scripts, preventing the associated data collection,
• It simplifies the cookies control,
• It makes use of secure connection when possible (automatically selecting the HTTPS protocol).

“Brave is a response to the growing concerns related to collection of user data implemented by major companies, such as Google or Facebook. It is quick and it also grows quickly – with new, very usable functions being added continuously. My favourite capability is the tab preview function” – Filip said.

“Prima” Labrador Retriever Rescue Foundation

This organization focuses on fighting the detrimental stereotypes related to careless ownership of a Labrador dog. It offers effective assistance for the dogs, especially for the Labrador retrievers.

“The Foundation has a special place in my heart. I had a Labrador once, but at the very young age he was sick with bone cancer. I witnessed how much suffering can an animal take, and still wag its tail when seeing the owner” – Filip told us.

It’s September already, and although none of us have to pack our bags every morning to go to school, we still miss the holidays that have just passed. However nostalgic we may be, we haven’t forgotten about the support we lend to open source projects and others in need. This month, it’s the first time for Kamil Wiśniewski to choose our beneficiaries. He is the brave (and, so far, the only) representative of our team residing in Lublin.

Kamil chose Antispam Bee, a free WordPress plugin which, as the name would suggest, serves to combat the bothering issue of comment spam. He used this plugin for his own purposes, and was very satisfied, given its efficiency. Seeing that we have some projects planned that will make use of WordPress, it’s very likely we’ll have the opportunity to try out this plugin too. For the time being, we wish to send our regards to the plugin’s authors and congratulate them on the project!

The other beneficiary this month is Flawiusz Obrusiewicz, a man from Lublin who is undergoing difficult physical rehabilitation following a case of cerebral oedema. Our support for Flawiusz will be provided through Fundacja Pomocy Dzieciom i Osobom Chorym “Kawałek Nieba” (“A Piece of Heaven” Foundation for Children and Ill People). We sincerely hope for the best for Flawiusz and his family, and we especially hope that he finds the strength and perseverance necessary in his recovery.

Every month we support one open source project and one charity, and August is no different. This time, the selection of the recipients was made by Michał Wojciechowski, the founder of our company, who also initiated this tradition over six years ago.

Michał decided to support the Perl Foundation. Perl is a programming language with a long history, and although it had fallen a bit behind in terms of popularity in recent years, we still find it very effective and use it for many projects, both internally and when building solutions for our clients. Our donation is to support the development of the language, its ecosystem and community.

We also help the Rescue Haven, an animal rescue centre which provides shelter for animals that have suffered from human cruelty and neglect. This organization is of special meaning to us, as we originally supported it in May 2012, when we made our very first donations, therefore beginning the monthly initiative.

We wish all the best to everyone in the Perl Foundation and the Rescue Haven!

Even though it’s summer outside, we wouldn’t be ourselves if we got distracted by (mostly) beautiful weather and neglected our monthly tradition of supporting one open source project and one nonprofit organization.

In July it was Wojtek Wąsik who had the privilege of choosing the causes that we will donate to. For the open source project, he went with Notepad++ – a source code editor that he uses ever since he can remember. As the author states on the Notepad++ website, his aim was to keep the CPU load low and therefore contribute to reducing the world carbon dioxide emissions.

We are also supporting the Natural Heritage Foundation, which operates within the area of Bieszczady, Wojtek’s favourite mountains. The organization takes care of animals in the Puszcza Karpacka forest, popularises this region in Poland and abroad, promotes local products and engages in investments which connect humans’ interests with nature protection and lead to creation of new jobs.

We wish both projects lots of success!