Free software adoption by governments
by
Georgia Young
Contributions
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Published on
Jan 13, 2017 05:16 PM
Government adoption of free software has the potential for a huge effect on the proliferation of free software, given that government employs many people, funds millions in software contracts each year, and most people interact with their government in various ways. We must demand that government not be held hostage to proprietary software.
The single most frequent government-related software freedom suggestion we received was free software for taxes. But there are many, many ways to advocate for free software use by your local, state, and national government. FSF president Richard Stallman has extensive suggestions for how governments can advocate for free software.
Ways to help
- The LibrePlanet wiki has a free software in government page that offers some resources for how to lobby for free software adoption by your government. Please help expand this resource.
- In addition to participating in the FSF's government action campaigns (which you can hear about by joining the Free Software Supporter mailing list), other organizations like April in France, and FSFE in Germany run a campaign to ask your candidates about their position on free software.
- See the FSF's stance on the US Federal Source Code Policy and read our recommendations for further action.
This is just one item on the Free Software Foundation's High Priority Projects list.