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Read and share online: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/your-government-should-use-free-software
Dear Free Software Supporter,
An Austrian petitioner succeeded in realizing what the US government
failed to see: that free software is vital for the infrastructure of
a free society.
The way that governments get hooked on proprietary software tends to
be predatory in nature, often based on offering gratis or low-cost
samples only to jack up prices and take away control after a
government is dependent on nonfree software. This story of trapping
governments into using proprietary software is a known strategy by
industry giants such as Microsoft.
The negative example: How Microsoft became a monopoly in US government cybersecurity
In summer 2021, Microsoft offered the US government a free trial of
their cybersecurity software. Note that at this point some of
Microsoft's software had already proved to be full of security lapses
that had made it easy for Russian hackers to steal sensitive data
from federal US agencies, including the National Nuclear Security
Administration!
While some members of Congress had criticized Microsoft's insecure
products and Sen. Ron Whyden (OR) demanded that the government
"reevaluates its dependence on Microsoft" before granting it any more
contracts, others waved these concerns aside and allowed Microsoft to
install more of the company's products across many government
agencies. When the free trial ended, it was too late for the
government to quit using Microsoft's software without swallowing huge
financial and administrative costs, firmly cementing Microsoft's
control of US government cybersecurity. Microsoft's strategy
was likened to one employed by drug dealers by its own former sales
leaders: "If we give you the crack, and you take the crack, you’ll
enjoy the crack, and then when it comes time for us to take the crack
away, your end users will say, ‘Don’t take it away from me.’ And
you’ll be forced to pay me."
When it comes to improving cybersecurity, free software is the right choice!
A common misconception is that proprietary software is more secure
than software that respects your freedom. The fact that hackers with
links to China breached several US telecommunication service
providers this month to access the wiretap systems which the US
uses to surveil its own citizens proves this to be wrong once
more. This is what happens when governments surveil their own
citizens: other governments also want to have a piece of the
pie. Proprietary software makes it easy for them because only a
handful of developers know how it works, where the weak spots are, and
what this software really does (and now China knows, too). When it
comes to improving cybersecurity, free software is the right choice!
Not only does it grant its users full freedom, it also often is more
secure than proprietary software because free software is backed by an
entire community of developers able to improve the program and to
check the source code for bugs and back doors. You don't have to trust
one company to detect, communicate, and fix bugs.
Why public and state-run infrastructure should always be free software
No government should rip freedom from the hands of its people, forcing
them to give up their freedom to run, study, modify, and share
software. When it comes to government infrastructure, citizens often
have no options: they have to use it. Therefore, government
infrastructure should always respect its user's freedom!
The great thing is that free software can at the same time help
enhance transparency, sustainability, and digital sovereignty of
governments:
Transparency: no government should force its citizens to use
untransparent software where no one can check what it really
does. Free software allows its users to study the source code and
thereby learn if the software is actually doing what it is supposed
to do. Sustainability: free software is indispensable for the Right to
Repair in that it can considerably reduce e-waste because
devices can run much longer when we're able to modify or replace
their preloaded software with free software. It can extend the life
of hardware even once the seller decided to no longer maintain the
preloaded software. Digital sovereignty: every government must maintain control over
its computing and not cede control to the proprietary products of
companies. Government entities need to be able to run the software
that powers their processes as required, not as a company dictates
and be able to modify the software if it doesn't serve as
needed. In addition, they should be able to copy and share public
software with their citizens and with other groups and
organizations serving the public interest. Only free software
grants all these freedoms.
On top of the above, there are practical advantages of free software
such as the fact that it can increase interoperability, support local
and small businesses, and reduce costs.
When a government, local or country-wide, finances the development of
software with taxpayer money, it has an obligation to release it as
free software!
Positive examples
There are showcase projects that demonstrate that governments can
successfully adopt free software. An excellent example is the Indian
Department of Electronics & Information Technology's work on many
initiatives for fostering the adoption of free software,
including the creation of a National Resource Centre for free
software. There's also a recent initiative in the European Union (EU)
called Petition No. 0729/2024. Launched in June 2024, the
petition calls for the EU to develop and implement GNU/Linux across
public administrations in the EU. The petition text explicitly states
that the initiative "aims to reduce dependency on Microsoft products,
ensuring compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR), and promoting transparency, sustainability, and digital
sovereignty within the EU." This is a great initiative to promote free
software adoption in governments! Please support it!
Call to Action
Government officials of the world, don't fall for harmful deals like
Microsoft's White House Offer. Instead, be like the Austrian
petitioner and champion for free software in government! Read about
measures governments can use to promote free software.
Free software activists around the world, write to your government
officials at all levels, share this article with them, and
demand that they migrate public and state-run infrastructure to free
software. The LibrePlanet wiki has a free software in government
page that offers some resources which can help you to lobby for
free software adoption by your government.
Government adoption of free software can have an enormous impact on
the spread of free software because the government employs many
people, awards millions of dollars in software contracts each year,
and most people interact with their government in various ways. The
Free Software Foundation (FSF) has been campaigning for free software
adoption by governments for more than a decade. We demand that
our government and we, its people, not be held hostage to proprietary
software.
In the most recent Free Software Bulletin, which hopefully already
reached your postbox, you can read more about why free software is an
important building block to a free society. If you didn't receive the
physical Bulletin just yet, stay tuned: we'll publish it on the web
shortly.
May we see more free software in government soon!
Yours in freedom,
Miriam Bastian
Program Manager
P.S.: The FSF is currently having its year-end fundraiser.
Donate to help us reach our fundraising goal of USD
$400,000!
Four freedoms at the White House adapted from
WhiteHouseSouthFacade by the Free Software Foundation,
Inc. The original photo was taken 2006 by Matt H. Wade and
licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License. The adapted image is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License.
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