What do you think: should all government software be open source?

Public money, public code.

Yes, I think all government software should be FOSS.

(Ok, ok. Not all. I don't think it should be mandatory to distribute software. But if you do distribute software, I think the source code should be required to come with it and there shouldn't be any intellectual property restrictions on modifying it or distributing it, with or without modifications so long as you include the source code. Aside from that, distributing versions with malware included without sufficiently advertising that fact should be considered some sort of fraud or vandalism.)

But I'm under no illusion that there's any likelihood of that happening any time in my lifetime. One can hope, though.

Of your "possible challenges", the first two are complete fiction. FOSS would make it easier to properly maintain and update systems, complex or otherwise. And databases and code are two different things. Beyond that, I'll say that distributing software only in compiled form doesn't make anything more secure or hide anything about how the code works.

Edit: Oh, I also think a right to attribution is a good thing. It can be done poorly. (Like some of the earlier BSD licenses that would result in pages and pages of attribution for a single code project.) But done well, I think it's a worthwhile thing.

Yes. Public money public code and all that.

However...

For security reasons, I wouldn't feel comfortable if every one who wanted to could just contribute to it. It would need to be a closed developer group with security clearance. We can all look at what they're doing, but we can't insert our own patch commit requests to them ad nauseaum.

Public money, public code.

What do you think: should all government software be open source?

No. I think that there are some things that should very much not be open source or even have binaries distributed, stuff like things like software used for some military purposes. You wouldn't want to distribute it with abandon to the world any more than you would the weapons it drives or is used to create.

Do you mean software created by the government, or simply used by the government?

In the US, I believe the standard is that the software would be public domain if it's an official government publication.

I agree, all software developed or used by governments should be open-source.

There might be few cases where there is a legitimate reason for it not to be open source (no open source software available, need a proprietary software for running old legacy equipment ...). In this case the decision should be voted on and the arguments exposed publicly.

Some, but probably not all. Seems like it would be a bad move to open-source all military software.

Why would it be more difficult to maintain and update a complex system?

They don't have to accept outsider contributions on their mainline nor employ less people to work on it.

OP, what do you mean by the following two challenges

1. Maintenance and updating of complex systems.
2. Protecting sensitive data without compromising citizen privacy.

I don't have a source, some looking will find it, but NASA used to have to be in the public domain. Now they partner, and the partner gets the patents. I know the Apollo soyez mating hardware was public domain, and apas docking is still.

I also seem to remember that research paid for by the USA, used to have to stay public.

I don't have a source to quote, just memory.

There really is no good reason for not being open source.

Within reason.

A nice little application to calculate tax and benefits? For sure.

A detailed model on how a nuclear attack would behave depending on the wind direction and tidal waves? That shit needs to be kept secret.

yeah i think all government software available to the public should be free and open source.

Any even partially publicly funded government code should be open sourced, just like the new rules for public funding and publishing of scientific research. If people actually paid attention this would crush my former local government department.

Yes, in the same way all research funded by the public should be open. If you pay for a dataset to be gathered and only one team gets to use it you have wasted money. Make the dataset open, make all the methods open, and it can be used multiple times, increasing the return on investment. In the same way if someone is working on security auditing for something like OpenSSH anyone who uses it benefits. You pay once for the work but get benefit for all who use it.

This also makes standardising easier because of the common tools so you can have cross department access without unnecessary technical barriers. For example, making a standard format for data in a SQL database means you can access multiple datasets and correlate them, allowing the study of important issues with minimal fuss. You can even create standards for accessing this data to make it much safer to use without exposing people's personal information.

On the flip side you could have Microsoft and other similar companies decide what is worth investing in and just hope their system will work. If there is a security issue you just have to wait for them to patch it assuming they identify it. If they stop supporting something you can't keep using it with external support because you don't have the code.

Honestly, it is also a national security risk. Using a vendor from another country means you have someone who can access your data with software you cannot audit who is potentially influenced by the government of another country and you just have to trust them. I cannot understand the use of Windows in military applications. Honestly, asking the fox to guard the hen house. Why would you let the USA have access to your systems with the plausibly deniability of a company like Microsoft in between? Sounds like lazy writing for a military fantasy novel, not modern foreign policy.

Another can of worms is dealing with proprietary technology. A lot of software is built in partnership with private companies. They likely don’t want to give out their competitive edge for free.

I think more government software should be open source, but I don’t think it’s possible to make all software open source.

Software developed by government funded research is typically released open source in the US.

Couldn't people look through the code for exploits?

Don’t forget VistA. It’s the EMR used by the VA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VistA

I think all public funds that generate data and/or software needs to be public.

The notion that maintenance is an issue is a red herring. Proprietary software purchased by government requires ongoing support contracts right until the vendor discontinues the product and leaves the public funds to prop up another billionaire.

Open source would also stimulate the economy since businesses could benefit from the project and use or apply it to their use, something which currently requires more investment with the same vendor.

Firstly do you mean software that the government uses, or that the government make? What about if they hire an external company to make it, which is pretty much what they always do?

I don’t think there is any need. It wouldn’t solve any problem or make anyone safer.

All publicly available software should be free and open-source, ten toes down.

Imagine governments adding to foss. Would be awesome.

Estonia: digital government services with open and auditable APIs.

What makes an API auditable?