second-sight.html (6632B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays cultural society" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Free Software and (e-)Government - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 7 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/second-sight.translist" --> 8 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 9 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 10 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 11 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 12 <div class="article reduced-width"> 13 14 <h2>Free Software and (e-)Government</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard 17 Stallman</a></address> 18 19 <p> 20 The UK government has funded the development of software useful for 21 e-government, and now doesn't know what to do with it. Someone had the 22 bright idea to hand it over to local councils, inviting them to turn 23 themselves into software companies. 24 </p> 25 26 <p> 27 The public have already paid to develop this software. Isn't it absurd 28 to make them pay, now, for permission to use it? Isn't it absurd to 29 restrict what they can do with it? Alas, such absurdity is not 30 unusual; it is standard practice for governments to deliver publicly 31 funded software into private hands, to companies that make the 32 public—and even the government—beg for permission to use it 33 afterwards. 34 </p> 35 36 <p> 37 Even worse, they impose frustrating restrictions on the users, denying 38 them access to the software's source code, the plans that a programmer 39 can read and understand and change. All the users get is an 40 executable, a “black box,” so that they cannot adapt it, 41 understand it or even verify what it does. 42 </p> 43 44 <p> 45 There is a sensible motive for this senseless policy. The motive is to 46 make sure that someone cares for the software, fixing the problems 47 that inevitably appear and adapting it to new needs. People used to 48 believe that having some company control all use of the software, and 49 keep all users under its thumb, was the only way to do this. 50 </p> 51 52 <p> 53 Today, we know another way: free software (also known 54 as <a href="/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html"> open 55 source</a> or Foss). Free software means the users are free to use 56 this software, redistribute it, study it, or even extend it to do more 57 jobs. 58 </p> 59 60 <p> 61 The word “free” refers to freedom, not price; think 62 “free speech,” not “free beer.” When there are 63 users that value support and are willing to pay for it, free software 64 means a free market for support, instead of a monopoly. Free software 65 also offers government agencies a way to fulfil their responsibility 66 to maintain sovereign control over the state's computers, and not let 67 that control fall into private hands. 68 </p> 69 70 <p> 71 Since 1984, groups of volunteers have developed and maintained 72 powerful and useful free programs—a few at first, then entire 73 operating systems such as GNU/Linux and BSD. Today, 74 the <a href="https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Page">Free Software Directory</a> 75 lists almost 4,000 free software packages. The UK government has already 76 decided to increase its use of free software; here is a perfect opportunity to 77 both use it and contribute. 78 </p> 79 80 <p> 81 The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister should make the e-government 82 programs free software, set up a site to host their development, and 83 hire a handful of people to oversee the work. Then governments around 84 the world will begin to use this software, fix it, extend it, and 85 contribute the improvements back. 86 </p> 87 88 <p> 89 The whole world will benefit, and all the users will admire Britain's 90 leadership. 91 </p> 92 93 <div class="infobox"> 94 <hr /> 95 <p>This article originally appeared in <cite>The Guardian</cite>, 96 March 3, 2005, under the title “Second Sight.”</p> 97 </div> 98 </div> 99 100 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 101 102 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 103 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 104 <div class="unprintable"> 105 106 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 107 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 108 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 109 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 110 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 111 112 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 113 replace it with the translation of these two: 114 115 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 116 translations. 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For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 137 document was modified, or published. 138 139 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 140 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 141 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 142 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 143 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 144 145 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 146 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 147 148 <p>Copyright © 2005, 2021 Richard Stallman</p> 149 150 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 151 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 152 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 153 154 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 155 156 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 157 <!-- timestamp start --> 158 $Date: 2021/10/01 17:02:54 $ 159 <!-- timestamp end --> 160 </p> 161 </div> 162 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 163 </body> 164 </html>