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?

  • kibiz0r@midwest.socialEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    I’d settle for just requiring interoperability. Seems like a reasonable requirement for a government to demand the ability to change vendors.

    We have that requirement when it comes to munitions. You’re not allowed to sell the military a gun for which you are the only ammo manufacturer.

    A side effect would probably be that more commercial software would be interoperable as a result, just because it’s easier for the vendors to maintain a single product rather than wildly different variants.