[CAVO] Congressman Johnson bill for open source voting

[Patrick Masson]

Brent,

I appreciate the work of OSI..  but with the obtainment of the OSI approved
> license by OSET .. do you think that merely recommending an OSI approved
> license- rather than GPL v3 - would be appropriate ?
>

Yes. All OSI approved licenses ensure software freedom, ability to use,
modify and redistribute. I would please ask you to confer with others you
trust, if not me nor the OSI, to get the assurances you need.

My apprehension is that the government lacks the instinct to differentiate
> between "open -washers " who have managed to technically comply with OSI
> requisites for approval.. and the " real " open source community who would
> be less likely to manipulate the government for financial gain .
>

All OSI approved licenses ensure the same freedoms and meet to the same
requirements. I think you might be confusing licenses with business models.
Indeed business models like Open Core, and licensing tactics like Dual
Licenses *can* create vendor lock-in, but so could the AGPL.

I recognize you mentioned a background check of persons involved  i.e.
> track record..   but I don't know if government has good ability there-
>

Agreed, which is why any software distributed with an OSI license ensures
continued access and freedom.

I (and I expect the OSI) is most worried about organizations like Qabel,
more than OSET, that have stated they produce open source software, use
their own license--a license that does not ensure software freedom. Qabel
develops encryption software (something an e-voting system might need), but
includes provisions in the license against some government use.

There must be a standard that governments can look to in order to trust
that the software is not just marketed as open source--especially as the
market grows when legislation like this passes. That list is the OSI
Approved License list, and not to cite it opens a huge door for fraud,
mistrust and ultimately the failure of all our efforts. Once the government
gets burned by fauxpen source software, I suspect it will be very difficult
to win them back.

I hope others on this list will add their thoughts.

Patrick
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