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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

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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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[–] feannag@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

In the US, officially, material cannot be classified to save face or because it would make the government look bad (I'm sure this has happened, even if it's something like: if it makes (official) look bad that will undermine our country's strength and therefore cause serious damage to national security or whatever).

Secret material is defined as information that could cause serious damage and Top Secret is exceptionally grave damage. And I suspect a lot of classified information does need to be kept classified, either to protect sources or plans of actions or enemy intelligence or even friendly capabilities.