Defense department oks opensource software computerworld. Using open source licensing does not mean that changes to the source code must be shared publicly. Opensource software is also more secure than closedsource. When versata software sued ameriprise financial services for breaching its software license, it unwittingly unearthed a gpl violation of its own and touched off another lawsuit that could prove to be a leading case on free and open source software licensing. This is a comparison of free and open source software licenses. The national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2018 is the engine that. For example, adding a custom patent license to an existing open source license that is silent on patent rights. If dod holds enforceable rights to the software, can it license oss. A defense department technology expert and a white house cybersecurity official on tuesday praised governments use of open source software and said that its security can be. Achieving efficiency, transparency, and innovation through reusable and open source software the u. If the software checks air pressure in tires, and someone decides to use it on a. Floss programmers can ask for donations, or charge for support or for copies. Open source software compliance within the government dtic. Does not include computer software or data incidental to contract administration e.
This post takes a look at the legal issues raised by both cases and what they mean for foss producers and users. Department of defense dod faces unique challenges in open sourcing its code. It allows you to do whatever you want with the software as long as you abide by the notice requirements. Government is committed to improving the way federal agencies buy, build, and deliver information technology it and software solutions to better support cost efficiency, mission effectiveness, and the consumer. How 2 legal cases may decide the future of open source software the open source universe may soon be less collaborative and more litigious. His recommendations resulted in a massive expansion of the coverage and analysis of free software licenses. Open source software oss is commercial software for which full ownership rights can be obtained simply by agreeing, without any need for immediate thirdparty verification, to abide by an attached oss license. Open source software, or free software, is software that can be distributed freely in a form that lets others modify it and rebuild it from scratch. This is a comparison of free and opensource software licenses. Open source software and the department of defense center. In the past, sflc has given presentations ranging from an introduction to free and open source software legal issues to patents and free and open source software to version 3 of the gnu. Software items, including code fixes and enhancements, developed for the government should be released to the. While it is known as free software, its not necessarily free as in. Comparison of free and opensource software licences.
The gnu gpl requires that when you use gpllicensed software to make other software and release it to the public, the resulting software must be opensourced with the same license. Difference between freeware and open source software different types of open source licenses. Lawsuit threatens to break new ground on the gpl and software. For example, although discredited in the pentagons own studies, the notion persists that use of opensource software licenses allows adversaries to see and manipulate code used in defense systems. An educational resource for government employees and government contractors to understand the policies and legal issues relating to the use. How open source fits into government it strategy where appropriate, government will procure open source solutions. How 2 legal cases may decide the future of open source software.
Open source software is defined by the department of defense as software for which the humanreadable source code is available for use, study, reuse, modification, enhancement, and redistribution by the users of that software. Agreeing to an oss license allows an individual, company, or government entity. This is intended to fulfill their commitments to make available their. It is a collaborative approach to meet the governments open source policy. For a list of licenses not specifically intended for software, see list of free content licenses. This can make it hard to attach an open source license to our code, and our team here at defense digital service wants to find a solution. Cio memorandum, open source software oss in the department of. Open source software oss in the department of defense dod this memorandum reiterates current policy and provides additional guidance on the. Mar 10, 2020 an experiment in open source at the department of defense. The pentagon is set to make a big push toward open source. While it is known as free software, its not necessarily free as in zerocost. Open source used in defensepro for cisco firepower 9300.
In the past, sflc has given presentations ranging from an introduction to free and open source software legal issues to patents and free and open source software to version 3 of the gnu general public license gplv3 to many other topics relating to foss. I think that theres the any use so long as its open source, license, the any use so long as its not military or commercial license, and the contact me license. Or adding a defensive termination clause that allows the patent holder to terminate. The defense digital service dds has been working with dod and the open source community since early 2017 to develop a guideline for. How to participate in open source while maintaining ip. Jay lyman military, weapons, and national defense are certainly not synonymous with open source software, but developers and companies that provide linux and other open source. I think that theres the any use so long as its open source, license, the any use so long as its not military or commercial license, and the contact me. Two cases now in the courts could open the legal floodgates.
Department of defense has issued a policy that officially authorizes the use of open source software at the department, a move open source pundits said opens the door to more government. There are two license variants available from ossi, the open software license v. The pentagon is set to make a big push toward open source software next year. Mar 16, 2009 there are two license variants available from ossi, the open software license v. An educational resource for government employees and government contractors to understand the policies and legal issues relating to the use of open source software in the dod. Feb 25, 2017 the dod says its defense digital service dds, which spearheaded code.
In addition, the military has a chainofcommand approach to organization. You hereby grant in both source code and binary code to goahead a worldwide, royaltyfree, nonexclusive license to copy, modify, display. Jun 01, 2017 the gnu gpl requires that when you use gpllicensed software to make other software and release it to the public, the resulting software must be open sourced with the same license. So an open source military project is fine, but a closedsource one is not. Sep, 2017 for example, adding a custom patent license to an existing open source license that is silent on patent rights. Department of defense dod has issued a policy that officially authorizes the use of opensource software at the department, a move opensource pundits say opens the door to more. When used in conjunction with compulsory open standards, open source presents significant opportunities for the design and delivery of interoperable solutions. In 2016, thenpresident barack obamas federal source code policy pushed agencies to use open source software.
So permissive licenses can be summarized as follows. Federal government employees typically doesnt have protections under u. Oct 29, 2002 a defense department technology expert and a white house cybersecurity official on tuesday praised governments use of open source software and said that its security can be preferable to that. When versata software sued ameriprise financial services for breaching its software license, it unwittingly unearthed a gpl violation of its own and touched off another lawsuit that could prove to be. Under what conditions can gpllicensed software be mixed with. A permissive license is simple and is the most basic type of open source license.
The new software freedom law centerseeded by funding from the open source development labswill offer asset stewardship, licensing, license defense and litigation support, legal support, and. Much of the information collected there is applicable to other federal agencies. Dod esi white paper considerations for open source software use i. Center offers open source license defense, legal services. Dod and open source software 3 software costs in dod programs the escalation of informationdriven warfare has made the cost of new it systems a major concern within the department of defense. Often times this makes people think that our code cant use an open source software license, but this is far from true. Dod and open source software 3 software costs in dod programs the escalation of informationdriven warfare has made the cost of new it systems a major concern within the department of defense dod. What is the ruckus about dod issuing open source software. Open source software is defined by the department of defense as software for which the humanreadable source code is available for use, study, reuse, modification, enhancement, and re. This lets us harness the depth and breadth of talent in the open source and free software communities to improve our software and make our code available for public use. Licensing policies, principles, and resources project open data. Lawsuit threatens to break new ground on the gpl and. If you intend to prevent companies from selling software linking to your library, you need a non open source license.
Department of defense is a 2003 report by the mitre corporation that documented widespread use of and reliance on free software termed foss. Participants in alliance for open media working groups have adopted the alliance for open media patent license 1. Department of defense dod has issued a policy that officially authorizes the use of open source software at the department, a move open source pundits say opens the door to more. About open source defense we couldnt wait for a gun rights organization that matched our approach to show up, so we created our own. Department of defense is a 2003 report by the mitre corporation that documented widespread use of and reliance on free software termed foss within the united states department of defense dod. Can the department of defense dod issue open source software oss, and what is. This can make it difficult to attach an open source license to our code. Open source software oss is commercial software for which full ownership rights can be obtained simply by agreeing, without any need for immediate thirdparty verification, to abide by an. The comparison only covers software licenses with a linked article for details, approved by at least one expert group at the fsf, the osi, the debian project or the fedora project. Open source licenses are licenses that comply with the open source definition in brief, they allow software to be freely used, modified, and shared. Open source used in defensepro for cisco firepower 9300 5 license to copy and distribute the binary code versions of the original code together with your modifications.
Government is committed to improving the way federal agencies buy. Osi contains more information on open source and open source licenses. Focus of the project will be to make it easy to extend and implement new towers, levels and critters. There are open source licenses that would require that software to be open source as well though. Open source as good as proprietary software the department of defense issues a memo outlining guidance for using open source software and for contributing code back to the community. Donald robertson of the free software foundation fsf wrote that. Open source software and the department of defense. Difference between different types of open sources licenses. Many nonprofit open source organizations, like the linux foundation have been working hard to educate businesses about open source licenses and compliance, and help software and legal teams incorporate practices and tools to insure compliance policies are taken into consideration and prioritized throughout software production. Department of defense dod has issued a policy that officially authorizes the use of opensource software at the department, a move opensource pundits say opens the door. Defense department relaunches open source software portal. Department of defense has issued a policy that officially authorizes the use of opensource software at the department, a move opensource pundits said opens the door to more government.
Like every year, legal issues were a hot topic in the open source world in 2017. Agreeing to an oss license allows an individual, company, or government entity to replicate, distribute, and run the oss application as often and as broadly as desired, to. Jay lyman military, weapons, and national defense are certainly not synonymous with open source software, but developers and companies that provide linux and other open source software for such applications indicate the ideals of open source communities are not contrary to its use in defense. If you intend to prevent companies from selling software linking to your library, you need a nonopen source license. An open source initiative at the pentagon building bridges between the department of defense and the software development community, one pull request at a time defense. The dod says its defense digital service dds, which spearheaded code. Open source software oss is commercial software for which full. Opensource licenses that explicitly prohibit military applications. Protect the software you develop from unauthorized copies, limit the usage in time, to a specific set of machines, or prevent the usage in virtualized environments. Panasonic allegedly refused to distribute the source code for its operating system, and by doing this, blocked its competitors including cokinetic from having the. Us department of defense sets opensource policy infoworld. Intellectual property and data rights considerations.
For example, although discredited in the pentagons own studies, the notion persists that use of open source software licenses allows adversaries to see and manipulate code used in defense systems. Software items, including code fixes and enhancements, developed for the government should be released to the public such as under an open source license when all of the following conditions are met. The defense digital service dds has been working with dod and the open source community since early 2017 to develop a guideline for supporting open source software oss within the department. The comparison only covers software licenses with a linked article for details, approved by at least one expert group at the fsf, the osi, the. Among other things, the policy included a pilot program requiring agencies to. The department of defense dod has not fully implemented an open source software pilot program and related office of management andreleased under a license which grants budget omb requirements. The defense department has launched the streamlined portal code. Nov 14, 2017 the pentagon is set to make a big push toward open source software next year.
Frequently asked questions regarding open source software oss and the department of defense dod this page is an educational resource for government employees and government contractors to understand the policies and legal issues relating to the use of open source software oss in the department of defense dod. Government organizations must create watertight business cases to gain executive buyin and drive decisions about software. Or adding a defensive termination clause that allows the patent holder to. Defense, cybersecurity officials praise open source software. Permissive licenses provide the software asis, with no warranties. Department of defense to open source corporate management. Department of defense sets opensource policy itworld. An experiment in open source at the department of defense. Considerations for open source software use dod esi. The department of defense dod and open source software. Open source software oss, sometimes referred to as free and open source. Comparison of free and opensource software licences wikipedia.
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