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What do you think: should all government software be open source? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 week ago by fajre@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

48 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I’ve been thinking about transparency and security in the public sector. Do you think all government software and platforms should be open source?

Some countries have already made progress in this area:

Estonia: digital government services with open and auditable APIs.
United Kingdom: several open source government projects and systems published on GitHub.
France and Canada: policies encouraging the use of free and open source software in public agencies.

Possible benefits:

Full transparency: anyone can audit the code, ensuring there is no corruption, hidden flaws, or unauthorized data collection.
Enhanced security: public reviews help identify vulnerabilities quickly.
Cost reduction: less dependency on private vendors and lower spending on proprietary licenses.
Flexibility and innovation: public agencies can adapt systems to their needs without relying on external solutions.

Possible challenges:

Maintenance and updating of complex systems.
Protecting sensitive data without compromising citizen privacy.
Political or bureaucratic resistance to opening the code.

Do you think this could be viable in the governments of your countries? How could we start making this a reality globally?

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 19 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Okay, I wasn't aware that I had to tailor my comment to be consumed by extreme pedants. Allow me to revise my statement:

"This should apply to everything that's created for public consumption, not only software."

I would have thought that would be implied, but I guess not. Should I explicitly state that it also doesn't apply to military hardware, or can we just accept that a certain degree of reasonableness must be applied, given this is an internet forum, not a legal document?

[–] dom@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago

How dare you not think of every single edge case and exception and explicitly call it out in an appendix?? I expect better of lemmy

[–] Xaphanos@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I agree with you. I was giving you a chance to clarify your point so that you don't seem like a radical if you didn't want to. Chill - this is just an Internet forum where we share and discuss ideas in order to widen our own thoughts to include those of others. Here on Lemmy we're more alike than not. This isn't reddit. Try not to assume the worst from people.

[–] Damage@feddit.it 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Then you have to word your comments differently, I interpreted it identically to KoboldCoterie.

[–] Xaphanos@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I'll work on that.