David Repa and Ifny LaChance, along with the rest of the folks at Free Geek Vancouver, want to give you a free computer.

All it will cost to participate in their “adoption program” is 24 volunteer hours. During that time you will help to refurbish six computers. At the end of it, you walk away with number six, a souped-up “Freekbox” outfitted with the latest version of Ubuntu (a user-friendly distribution of Linux, the open source operating system).

That’s the plan, anyway.

All they need now is a building. “All the energy is there,” says Repa. “Our storage facility is starting to reach capacity.”

Back in November of last year Repa, 29, quit his 11 year long stint in auto recycling to devote himself full-time to getting the first Canadian Free Geek of the ground. The original Free Geek of Portland, Oregon, served as a model.

LaChance, 32, a local bike activist, was already familiar with the Free Geek concept and jumped on board.

“We’re dealing with a very large surplus of [discarded] computers [... and] a lot of people who are desperate to connect and have the same things that a lot of people take for granted,” LaChance says. “We take the two problems and put them together.”

The Vancouver group shares its Portland parent’s slogan: “Helping the needy get nerdy since the beginning of the 3rd millennium.”

But finding a location is proving more challenging than Repa and LaChance expected. Real estate agents and landowners seem reluctant to take Free Geek seriously.

“[People] need to learn that non-profit doesn’t mean no money,” Repa says. “Free Geek [Portland] runs a half a million dollar budget.”

“What would be ideal,” Repa explains, “is a land owner that is into charitable causes. You say ‘look, can you give us three months for free just to get rolling, and I guarantee you it’s going to pay off.’”

Still, Repa says, “even though we don’t have a building yet, we’ve affected people’s lives. I was filling out a grant application and one question said ‘What’s one major lesson you’ve learned in this venture so far?’ It was a very simple answer, I wrote: ‘you don’t need a building to build community.’”

He estimates that over 100 people have become involved with Free Geek since the group’s inception in November of last year.

In addition to monthly meetings and an active mailing list, Free Geek hosts “Windowless Wednesday” Linux clinics, movie nights, and other events at various locations, including Spartacus Books, SPEC and Video In. All events are, of course, free and open to the public.

h3.The e-waste buzz

Location troubles aside, Repa couldn’t have picked a more opportune moment. E-waste is big news. With documentaries like Jennifer Baichwal’s Manufactured Landscapes and GOOD magazine’s video on YouTube, technology users are starting to see images of the devastation caused by electronics “recycling” in India, China, and other developing countries.

According to the Basel Action Network, a non-profit committed to bringing the developing world into compliance with the Basel Convention, “Canada and the USA are the only developed countries in the world that have failed to control export of hazardous electronic waste to developing countries.”

We have also failed to demand that electronics manufacturers take responsibility for the end-of-life recycling of the products they produce.

Canadian lawmakers are finally stepping in. This February, the province of British Columbia passed legislation, that will come into effect in August, making it illegal to throw out many forms of e-waste, including computers and entertainment electronics (this is already illegal in Alberta).

Included in the new electronics stewardship plan are regulations against exporting e-waste to non-OEPC or non-EU member countries, and the use of prison labour.

A recycling fee – about $45 for a desktop computer – will be charged to the consumer at purchase. Much of the volume will be handled byEncorp, the same company that handles our glass bottles and tetra packs.

But Free Geek is poised to reuse the refuse before it heads to the smelter. And if their application for charitable status is successful, they will have the advantage of being able to offer tax receipts to individual and corporate donors in exchange for second-hand hardware.

Open source community values

Although there are other non-profits in the Lower Mainland who refurbish and redistribute donated computer hardware to the needy (including the Electronics Recycling Association and Computers for Schools), what sets Free Geek apart is their commitment to the open source ethos.

On a practical level, “You couldn’t use older hardware with a Microsoft product, it would just be a slow dog,” Repa maintains that. “A lot of other charities that give out computers use Windows ‘98, or Windows 2000. They either have to charge for the computers, or give out obsolete operating systems.”

For those wary of Linux, Repa says open source has come a long way. “I just sent a Linux box to my folks back in Ontario. They’re in they’re 60s, and they love it. It’s completely stable, there’s no viruses, no spyware, nothing. [...] I figure they’re a good litmus test of how Ubuntu is doing.”

But open source software is more than just a convenient way for Free Geek to avoid paying licensing fees and make better use of old hardware. LaChance believes that planned obsolescence represents a “cynical relationship” between companies and consumers. She says that the use of open source represents a strong stance against proprietary hardware and Digital Rights Management. “If you don’t want to be promoting the ideologies of a lot of these companies then it’s important not to use their products.”

Reduce, reuse

In addition to the adoption program, the center will offer a build program for the more ambitious, a variety of free workshops, and a thrift store selling second hand parts and accessories. “Last year [Free Geek Portland] did just under a quarter million in thrift store sales,” Repa notes.

What that means is a lot of keyboards, mice, and monitors getting a second chance, and fewer coming off the shelves at Future Shop.

Now all you have to figure out is what to do with your broken and obsolete cell phones, pagers, PDAs, MP3 players, stereos, digital cameras, calculators, clock radios, video game systems, TVs, VCRs, walkmans, discmans, ghetto blasters and tamagochis.

Freegeekvancouver.org