Public Money, Public Code

Why is software created using taxpayers’ money not released as Free Software? We want legislation requiring that publicly financed software developed for the public sector be made publicly available under a Free and Open Source Software licence. If it is public money, it should be public code as well. Code paid by the people should be available to the people!
Similar applications don't have to be programmed from scratch every time.
Major projects can share expertise and costs.
Applications paid by the public should be available for everyone.
With transparent processes, others don't have to reinvent the wheel.
Free Software gives everybody the right to use, study, share and improve software. This right helps support other fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and privacy.
Do you believe that Free Software should be the default option for publicly financed software? Let’s convince your political representatives!
In our open letter we demand:
“Implement legislation requiring that publicly financed software developed for the public sector be made publicly available under a Free and Open Source Software licence.”
240 organisations and 39361 individuals already support this call for action by signing our open letter. You can help us make a much bigger impact by signing it, too! We will hand over all signatures to representatives all over Europe that are debating software freedom in public administration.
Please do not put anything here:
The following organisations support our open letter. If your organisation is also interested in joining the call for Public Code, please contact us.
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