Jun 04, 2008 examples of such free and open source software organizations are. At legal ict we have over ten years of experience with open source software and open source licenses. According to micah sifry, a founder of personal democracy forum and a leader of open. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. May 12, 2010 free and open source software communities, democracy and ict law and policy create a free website or blog at. Dpfs support clients design and implement a program of policy. Economic impact of free and open source software usage in.
Implications for ict policy and development 97 duce something of commercial value. It incorporates 21stcentury information and communications technology to promote democracy. Software is often openly available for developers to view, edit, distribute. All software development takes time and expertise, but there are many models for funding software development, and different models of ownership. The commission, which is already using open source for many of its key ict services and software solutions, will further increase the role of this type of software internally. A licensing assistant the jla and guidance for all it developers, practitioners or. The survey tracks governmental policies on the use of open source software. Exploring the ideological links between open government and the free and open source software movement. Open source democracy how online communication is changing. The senegalese ministry of telecommunications, land transportation. Participatory democracy and information and communications. Pdf lessons of transparent collaboration comparision of e. Economic impact of free and open source software usage in government final report june 2015 principalinvestigator rahulde hewlettpackard chair professor,iimbangalore coinvestigators lewinsivamalai,ravia. Join a community thats hacking the future of democracy today.
Open data, freedom of information, and the future of government transparency beth simone noveck open data policy mandates that government proactively publish. Trechsel, edc is a jointventure between the university of genevas c2d, the european. Free and open source software foss information literacy. The international free and open source software law book engages with this by providing a clear yet thorough analysis of free and open source legal matters written and maintained by local experts, and by inviting everyone to assist in improving or expanding the content. Ict and free open source software in developing countries. Volume 18 issue 2 international journal of law and. Open source democracy is a collection of tools designed to make running a political campaign in the us easier and available to everyone.
The commission, which is already using open source for many of its key ict services and software solutions, will further increase the role of this type of software. International journal of law and information technology 18 2. Project muse against the networked information economy. Free and open source software communities, democracy and ict law and policy international journal of law and information technology, vol. What role of can be played here by social media and usergenerated content.
We seek to connect most people in a local community possible across their technology preferences, generations, etc. Oss is also commonly known as free and open source software foss. The open source observatory osor serves as a place where the open source software community can come together to publish news, find out about events, find relevant open source software solutions and read about the use of free and open source. Open source governance also known as open politics is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open source and open content movements to democratic principles to enable any interested citizen to add to the creation of policy, as with a wiki document. Third african conference on free and open source software. Publications association for progressive communications. Us government now has an official open source software policy. The croatian government adopted an open source software policy and issued the following guidelines for developing and using open source software in the government institutions. The main aim of free and open source software and technology for sustainable development is to raise awareness, increase the deployment, and capture the socioeconomic, technical, and educational. Explore all research articles, conference papers, preprints and more on foss.
Lewis this is the seventh update to the csis open source policy survey. These private law instruments reside within a public law. More governments move to free open source software to save. Foss free and open source software allows the user to inspect the source code and provides a high level of control of the software s functions compared to proprietary software. Ict expansion and the digital divide in democratic. The gpl itself is not a law and all participants in the community. The policy on adoption of open source software for government of india will encourage the formal adoption and use of open source software oss in government organizations. Open source enthusiasts have found a more efficient way of working by pooling their knowledge to encourage innovation. The website has attracted around 8 million hits a year. In 2017, over half of humanity will be online one of the biggest societal shifts in history. References of open source software in public policy and law. Open government pioneers uk is an example of a civil society led initiative using open source approaches to support citizens and civil society organisations use open government as a way to secure progress towards the sustainable development goals. Many policy makers at senior levelsparticularly those without experience in ict are not expected to have a firm grasp of issues surrounding open source and open standards.
It includes the european union public licence, but much more. The centrality of information in our society has resulted in many declaring that we have entered into a new. The apache foundation, which has a project called incubator, created to help new projects to join the foundation. Pdf the nigerian national information technology it policy. Mastering information technology for cxc csec cape. E democracy uses open source software to the greatest extent possible. In fact, thats how a lot of successful open source software. Sitemap united nations educational, scientific and. Expanding internet access has had huge impacts on everyday lives as people talk, shop and learn on their phones.
Critical aspects of ict policy and regulatory framework design. Critical aspects of ict policy and regulatory framework design un071020032. Theres no reason that those professional vendors you talk about should not be producing open source software, and be paid to produce that. As mentioned in preface, it becomes obvious that free and open source software foss should be made mandatory in education as a government policy. Free and open source software foss is an umbrella term for software that is simultaneously considered both free software and open source software. This radical idea may provide the biggest challenge to the dominance of microsoft. A solution for the ict dilemma of developing countries. Through software and advocacy, pcf works to build a fairer, more open, and more democratic media space. The law is the farthestreaching law to date favouring the use of free and open source. In the software industry, the open source movement emphasises collective cooperation over private ownership. Free and open source software communities, democracy and. Information and communication technology on democracy. Government information technology officers council, using open source software in the.
Legal aspects of free and open source software, compilation of. The survey tracks governmental policies on the use of open source software as reported in the press or other media. Of the 3 countries we analyzed four main groupings emerged. The government of india goi has adopted a comprehensive and supportive open source policy. Introduction today, most companies are using open source software internally, and many are actively distributing open source software either within software programs or. It builds on their earlier efforts to adopt open standards for procurement. As pcfs first outreach coordinator, he helped to create and launch miro, the free culturefriendly internet tv player that is now one of the most popular open source software. We would also like to thank the apc members collaboration on international ict policy for east and southern africa cipesa and the kenya ict action network kictanet in.
These private law instruments reside within a public law framework that grants exclusive and monopoly rights to creators of intellectual property. The projects development objective is to strengthen peoples participation in local affairs, support democracy. Future of open source software and open standards in the. Manilabased institute for popular democracy believes it can. Our analysis also allows us to generate an index ranking all 3 countries with regard to the degree that their policies for ict use are free and open. Open government experiences in argentinean cities abstract. Raoiimbangalore sharmilachakravarty,supriyadey,umabharath independentresearchers.
Free and open source software foss and open collaboration play a vital role in software development today. Free and open source software foss is realized through legal instruments, private law agreements, licenses, promises and community norms. Earlier this year, we noted that the federal government was looking to further embrace open source software in its process of. Framework for adoption of open source software in egovernance. Government open source policies open source initiative. This section is an active and comprehensive repository of the latest research reports, policy and issue papers, presentations, statements and positions, toolkits, guides, and other relevant publications. Free and open source software and technology for sustainable. Dizons 9 research works with 5 citations and 98 reads, including.
The role of social media and usergenerated content in. Free and opensource software foss is software that can be classified as both free software. The topic of this essay is if and how the use of information and communications technologies, ict, as well as the use of free open source software, can change the prerequisites of third world. Free and open source software communities, democracy and ict law and policy. An interdisciplinary journal on humans in ict environments. Council of europes work on e democracy including the work of the ad hoc committee on e democracy iwg established in 2006. School of economics and commercial law, university of gothenburg. The topic of this essay is if and how the use of information and communications technologies, ict, as well as the use of free open source software, can change the prerequisites of third world countries. Can free and open source software foss make a difference to the way in which local government functions in the philippines. Linguistic diversity and multilingualism on internet. Of course, there are open source software that are free of cost called free and open source software but not all open source software are free. Governments decisions to use or purchase foss free and opensource software were not. The bill of free software v5, mandating oss in all federal government agencies and.
Support to egovernment initiatives based on the freeopen. Egovernance and open source software development ossd share the same. The free software foundation acts as an umbrella organization for its projects. The advent of open source democracy and wikipolitics human. D providing information resources to the community. Founded in 2001, opendemocracy claims that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to challenge power and encourage democratic debate across the world. The working group on foss and open standards helped to develop a policy in. Information and communication technology on democracy media essay. Selforganizing open source and free software communities. Foss projects are built by nurturing community, not by using trademark law to crush it.
Policy on adoption of open source software for government of india there is a need to formulate a policy for the government organizations to adopt open source software. Many people consider that the internet is not only access to unlimited information, but also has a potential to make a difference in. E governance and open source software development ossd share the same. Rethinking decentralization, community, and free software development ben roberts bio the free, libre, and open source software floss movement. This eupl collection focuses on open licensing in general. Free and open source software foss is impacting all aspects of information and communications technology ict, ranging from core infrastructure such as cloud computing to the development and deployment of elearning, ehealth, egovernment and ecommerce applications. To avoid any surprises with open source license provisions, simply contact legal ict for open source advice. It uses an open wiki to plan the development of an open government civil society movement across.
Foss advocacy in africa receives a big boost from the open. The software freedom law center provides legal representation and other law related services to protect and advance free and open source software. Government open source policies march 2010 center for strategic and international studies introductory note james a. Nov 23, 2009 one must keep vigilant against falling into the trap of technological utopianism even in relation to foss communities. The european commission has updated its strategy for internal use of open source software. This article explains the notion of free and open source software and the. Written by foss experts, this work delivers an indepth examination of the legal and commercial structures. A toolkit for policymakers and practitioners at their website. A bottomup approach to ip harmonization law and ict. It xrays the objectives of the policy, the sectoral applications, and the implementation strategies o.
Proprietary, free and open source software software. Nonetheless, ansip displayed facility on these issues during his hearing, calling for software produced by the ec to be made open source. Free and open source software foss technologies transcend geographical and cultural boundaries to usher in a new paradigm where volunteers collaboratively develop software for the commons. Democracy and technology national democratic institute. As a matter of fact, almost all proprietary programs and os have free software replacements, some being even better. Participation and service delivery examines how egovernment impacts politics and democracy in both developed and developing countries, discussing. How can governments benefit from creating channels of communication among citizens and to the law making bodies. Government open source policies march 2010 center for. However, the bubbly liquid cannot be reverseengineered into its constituent parts.
The international free and open source software law book. Free and opensource software foss is software that can be classified as both free software and opensource software. You can buy cola soda and you can drink it, but you cannot understand it in a way that. Economic impact of free and open source software usage in government final report. The eupl is a freeopen source software foss licence. The open politics theory, a narrow application of opensource governance, combines aspects of the free software and open content movements, promoting decisionmaking methods claimed to be more open, less antagonistic, and more capable of determining what is in the public interest with respect to public policy. Direct democracy portal direct democracy portal, mixing open source with politics to create a portal for online organisation.
The development of information and communication technology ict has changed the world. Free and open source software communities, democracy and ict law and policy may 19, 2010 in information technology law, journal articles leave a comment my article on the impact of free and open source communities on democracy and ict law and policy appears in the current edition of the international journal of law and information technology. The world bank supports policy and institutional reforms of national and subnational governments by providing budget financing and global expertise. Most open source software is free, as in free beer, so monetary gain is not even on the list. That is, anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source code is openly shared so that people are encouraged to voluntarily improve the design of the software. The free software and open source foundation for africa fossfa 2. Free and open source software in subsaharan africa united. A legal issues primer for open source and free software. Foss free and opensource software allows the user to inspect the source code and provides a high level of control of the software s functions compared to proprietary software.
It is therefore working on sharable, localised and relevant software. Edemocracy software should either be open source software that. The similarities between community software development and civil. The assembly of the frenchspeaking community of brussels cocof. With issues like forking and the fundamental disagreement that divides the foss community between free software advocates and open source developers, foss communities are far from being democratic utopias.
Free and open source software communities, democracy and ict law. Use of free and open source software foss in government departments. Open source democracy how online communication is changing offline politics the project gutenberg ebook, open source democracy, by douglas rushkoff this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Journal articles law, technology and society law and ict. Emerging information services include public policy, governance, laws. Government will promote open source systems in ict to cut costs in. Government open source policies center for strategic and. In traditional representative democracies, vote has been and is the way in which society made a group of. Free software also called freeware is licensed at no cost, or for an optional fee. Free and opensource software foss is an umbrella term for software that is simultaneously considered both free software and opensource software. Information technology deity, government of india has formulated the policy.
Ict in developing countries information and communication technology ict can. Be part of the osor community and make your voice heard. Open source democracy how online communication is changing offline politics by douglas rushkoff acknowledgements thanks to tom bentley and everyone at demos for the opportunity to extend this inquiry to a new community. Government institutions will choose and or develop open source solutions as much as possible, instead of using closed source alternatives. Support to egovernment initiatives based on the free open source software foss at the local municipality level in the southeastern europeapplications at the municipal level. Petition for mandating use of free and open source software. Free and open source software communities, democracy and ict. Chinas nba free speech debacle turned out to be a prelude to its covid19 denialism 1. A common misconception among people is that open source implies free of cost.
That is the wrong way to think about technological change and public policy. What open source will your provider give you, and can you influence this at all. Cocof, could propose such a law mandating the use of open source. France is the latest government to move from open source friendly to open source active, to paraphrase the european commissions aspirational reference to cloud computing. The renewed strategy puts a special emphasis on procurement, contribution to open source software projects and providing more. Free and open source software foss advocacy in africa receives a big boost from the open society institute for west africa osiwa accra, ghana february 1, 2009 the free software and open source foundation for africa fossfa has received a grant from the open society initiative for west africa osiwa towards the foss advocacy for west. Aug 09, 2016 us government now has an official open source software policy misuses of technology. The centrality of information in our society has resulted in many declaring that we have entered into a new stage of human existence, often referred to as the information age. E democracy a combination of the words electronic and democracy, also known as digital democracy or internet democracy, is the use of information and communication technology ict in political and governance processes.
426 1513 650 118 793 100 205 384 584 1330 701 1454 1077 174 619 685 1078 1144 1053 1192 1275 143 1273 892 221 419 1518 1014 551 312 997 1258 482 627 361 794 1415 310