At an expert hearing by the Committee for Digital Affairs in the Bundestag on the topic of open source, the importance and potential of open source software for digital sovereignty was discussed – especially in the state and public sector. The Traffic Light government promised to advocate for the distribution of open source rather than proprietary software in the coalition agreement: “Development contracts are usually commissioned as open source, with the associated software generally made public. Multi -Based on cloud strategy and more “We are building a public governance cloud based on interfaces and strict security and transparency requirements.”
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billions for proprietary software
But the reality is that the state “spends billions of dollars every year to companies for software, increasing dependency and imposing its agenda on the state and all of us,” said Peter H. Genton, CEO of the Open Source Business Alliance. so it is needed According to the experts present A cultural change. be important according to ganten (PDF) and Bianca Kastel, From the Public Health Innovation Network (PDF) That states outline terms in legislative periods. To do this, they “must include open source development or operations as a potentially charitable purpose in the tax code,” Kastel said.
Germany relies on Big Tech
Jutta Horstmann, president of Germany, says that this dependence on Germany is visible again and again, including in the digital world. Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration (PDF). The results of the US elections have already given us a glimpse of the unpredictability of transatlantic relations. The United States’ reliance on individual Big Tech companies will dominate administrative IT “to a significant extent – PC workstations, databases and virtualization, and increasingly also cloud and AI,” warned Horstman.
There is a real risk “services will be compromised, data leaked or access to them denied, with costs also skyrocketing.” The administration is stuck and has to accept the decisions of the manufacturers. The increasing shift towards clouds is increasing the impact. According to Horstmann, the state “can no longer ensure that services, processes and data are protected from access by third parties and are permanently accessible.” Open source can strengthen transparency and thus citizens’ trust in the state, “a trust that is fundamental to the acceptance of artificial intelligence in governance.” This requires the framework conditions for the next Bundestag.
courage to change
Currently, many open source projects are created by individuals or small organizations in their spare time, but they have long enabled the reuse of their software and contributed to the common good. To further develop the open source ecosystem, especially given the financial uncertainty, requires courage. But also “so that open source can work in a government context,” Kastel says.
Stefan Dekker, Professor of Information Systems and Databases at RWTH Aachen, says, “For me, open source is not an article of faith, but actually a very practical tool,” and “Without open standards there would not have been a World Wide Web.” , An infrastructure for data rooms is currently being developed across Europe.
Deckert cites a relevant example in the context of public administration in his statement (PDF) Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network, CKAN, a data management system. “We have to bring our data together and we have to be able to use our data together in a way that we can use it to solve humanity’s problems,” Deckert said. This is not particularly effective given that all industries require their own software systems – for example to register cars. He calls for using resources more effectively.
cultural change necessary
“Open source means complete transparency of source code. It requires a culture where mistakes are opportunities to learn from, not shame. It also requires a willingness to talk directly to users,” Isabelle Drost-From says (PDF), Member and Former Board Member Apache Software Foundation. We must work together at the grassroots level and thus innovate more quickly. “The public lowers the barriers to entry. Support, translation, writing documentation, all valuable contributions,” Drost-Fromm says. A good example of this was the Corona Alert app.
In some areas, prices have increased tenfold, Ganten said. For example, at Microsoft the need to move to the cloud brings with it dependencies and loss of control. For too long people believed they could “just buy software” and not have to understand it. This results in dependency on proprietary software. Losing control “has a completely different dimension to dependence on Russian natural gas and will present completely different challenges for us,” Ganton warned.
The “Unsafe Software” Myth
When planning or developing software, it is often said that code should not be disclosed as it would be insecure and the software would be compromised more quickly. According to some of the attendees this is a myth. The only way to deal with this is to “develop secure software”. Conversely, disclosing it does not make the software unsafe. “The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) also classifies open source systems as more secure, because verification by the public is an effective means of quality assurance,” says Business Informatics Expert Prof. Statement by Helmut Kracker (PDF). However, openness is not an automatic guarantee of security.
digital sovereignty
“Open source plays an important role in promoting digital sovereignty,” Krakammer said. He described it as “the notion of replicating proprietary products like Microsoft Office on the German cloud to frame it as digitally sovereign. We must also boldly refute this notion and prioritize more independent solutions like OpenDesk. Needed.” The public sector should not “allow itself to sell nonsense”.
Discussion about “Procurement Law”
Addressing important misconceptions and misconceptions about the benefits of open source for digital sovereignty. Wanted Dr. Oliver Green (PDF), President of the Federal Association of IT SMEs. Accordingly, open source helps digital sovereignty, but he does not see the equation with open source. Grun said, “We cannot confirm the comparison of proprietary software with foreign (…).” Open source should not be prioritized in the digitalization of governance, as it will not allow one to become independent from Silicon Valley. In his opinion, the debate needs to be objective in order to achieve “a path free from ideology and open to technology”.
State-funded software should be free
“Since the Free Software Foundation Europe was founded, (…) we have been committed to ensuring that code paid for with taxpayers’ money should also be available to the public, i.e. as free software,” Said. Alexander Sander from the Free Software Foundation (PDF). On the one hand, this has direct benefits for public administration, “but also has persistent positive effects for society and the economy” – if the software can also be used in other areas. He also discussed the basic principles of free software: using it for any purpose, understanding it, distributing it, and improving it. If these principles were restrictive, one could not talk about free software. This often happens with “openwashing”, when companies or organizations act as if they are developing free software and thus gain an advantage in the market.
“This practice is often used by lobbyists to conceal interests and gain advantages in legislation, regulation, and procurement,” Sander said. In Germany, according to the federal government, “only three percent of the solutions are actually publicly available,” Sander says. The software cannot be used in other regions. Therefore, it would be helpful to promote open source projects, which would benefit not only public administration but also the economy and development.
chicken and egg problem
From Ganton’s perspective, there is a chicken-and-egg problem: “So I buy proprietary software again and then 85 percent of Mr. Green’s members again create proprietary software and then it goes on like that.” It is important that the industry can embrace open source. 95 percent of proprietary software already includes open source. The change will not happen “overnight”, but there will have to be a period of time that will essentially lead to the purchase of open source software.
“Open digital infrastructure can be thought of as the roads and bridges of the digital world, just as the physical infrastructure connects our cities, drives our economy and supports our daily lives, digital infrastructure for government Enables smooth flow of information and services to business and society”. Adriana Groh saidHead of Sovereign Tech Agency. But maintaining the system doesn’t make headlines, but is necessary and “the more expensive it is the longer you won’t do it.” Open source software has now “become the foundation of our modern lives” and is used everywhere. Greater control and protection from economic and geopolitical risks are possible only with open source.
(Mac)
