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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>To: License-Discuss@ [This email is CC-BY.]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>The California Association of Voting Officials (CAVO) asked me to help them evaluate FOSS licenses for election software. Below is my article for the CAVO newsletter. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>You can read the entire CAVO newsletter at <a href="http://www.cavo-us.org/Newsletter/newsletter1.html">http://www.cavo-us.org/Newsletter/newsletter1.html</a>. Please direct any comments or questions or support to </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#505050;background:white'><a href="mailto:cavocontact@gmail.com">cavocontact@gmail.com</a>. </span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>/Larry<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>**************************<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>"Why CAVO Recommends GPLv3" by Lawrence Rosen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>There are many ways to distribute software. Valuable software nowadays is usually distributed under a free and open source license ("FOSS" license, in short), both because it is usually "free of cost" software but also "free of restrictions" on copying, making changes, and redistributing that software.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>There are various open source licenses to choose from. They are listed at the <a href="http://www.opensource.org">www.opensource.org</a> website. Unless a license is listed at that website, most developers and potential customers won't call it FOSS software. The OSET Foundation Public License ("OPL"), a license recently proposed for an election software project, <b><i>is not a FOSS license</i></b>. [1] <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>FOSS licenses offer several distinct ways to give software away. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Choosing among those licenses for software is not an arbitrary game of darts. For open source election software that can be trusted and always free, the choice of license is particularly important. That is why CAVO recommends the General Public License version 3.0 ("GPLv3") as the best license to use. This article gives several important reasons why.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Among the many FOSS licenses, GPLv3 is the <b><i>most modern, widely accepted, and best understood license</i></b> available today. Its predecessor license, GPLv2, is historically far and away the most used worldwide; GPLv3 is replacing it in the rate of license adoption for new FOSS software.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>GPLv3 is a <b><i>reciprocal</i></b> license. Once a project or distributor releases election software under the GPLv3, it will remain FOSS software <b><i>in perpetuity</i></b> under the GPLv3 license. Modifications to that FOSS software will also be distributed <b><i>in perpetuity</i></b> under the GPLv3. This guarantees that our election software won't ever be taken under commercial covers and turned into proprietary software with unacceptable lock-in and source code restrictions that make voting untrustworthy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>The GPLv3 license promotes <b><i>open and shared development efforts</i></b>. While it is possible to create excellent open source software under more permissive FOSS licenses, those licenses allow commercial fragmentation of the software. That isn't appropriate for widely used election software. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>The GPLv3 encourages <b><i>trustworthy software</i></b>. There is a law of software development named in honor of Linus Torvalds stating that "given enough eyeballs, all <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug" title="Software bug"><span style='color:black;text-decoration:none'>bugs</span></a> are shallow"; or more formally: "Given a large enough <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_test" title="Beta test"><span style='color:black;text-decoration:none'>beta-tester</span></a> and co-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmer" title=Programmer><span style='color:black;text-decoration:none'>developer</span></a> base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix will be obvious to someone." [2] GPLv3 software projects invite eyeballs on all distributed versions of the software to identify bugs and security issues; other licenses don't always do that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Although GPLv3 will specifically encourage FOSS development practices for the election code base and its derivative works, that GPLv3 license is nevertheless <b><i>compatible with successful commercial software and support business</i></b> as well. One need only refer to the robust Linux ecosystem and its contribution to diverse commercial technology worldwide, whose basic software is entirely under the GPLv2 and GPLv3 licenses. The GPL licenses made that possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span></span><![endif]><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>GPLv3 will encourage <b><i>innovation</i></b> because GPLv3 source code is open to view and change. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>For these reasons, CAVO recommends that election software be distributed under GPLv3. This will inevitably create a diverse, worldwide, and enthusiastic community of software developers to create election systems we can all trust.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Footnotes:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>[1] The OSET Foundation claim on their website that their license is "an open source software license" is simply untrue. They can try to make it so by submitting their license to <a href="http://www.opensource.org">www.opensource.org</a> and following OSI's published license review process. While I am merely an observer nowadays of that license review and approval process, as former general counsel for OSI I am confident that certain provisions in that license make it incompatible with the GPLv3 despite the assertion on OSET's own website that it is. <a href="http://static.squarespace.com/static/528d46a2e4b059766439fa8b/t/53558db1e4b0191d0dc6912c/1398115761233/OPL_FAQ_Apr14.pdf">http://static.squarespace.com/static/528d46a2e4b059766439fa8b/t/53558db1e4b0191d0dc6912c/1398115761233/OPL_FAQ_Apr14.pdf</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>[2] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus's_Law">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus's_Law</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'>Lawrence Rosen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:black'>Rosenlaw & Einschlag (<a href="http://www.rosenlaw.com/">www.rosenlaw.com</a>) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:black'>(C) 2014 Lawrence Rosen. Licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC-BY 4.0</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>