2023, governments scrutinize Open Source

In 2022, we’ve seen a visible acceleration of interest in open source from governments around the world. Partially, this is due to the recognition that the public sector relies on Open Source for innovation and other benefits. At the same time, the tech sector is under pressure to help solve some of the most complex challenges facing society today, and Open Source is playing a role in this. 

This year we’re expecting to see an acceleration of public policy development in several areas that will affect Open Source such as software integrity (SBOMs,  cybersecurity), digital sovereignty (privacy, gatekeeper platforms) and artificial intelligence.

The good thing is that OSI started ramping up its Policy program in the second half of 2022 by retaining US policy expert Deb Bryant. Together with her European counterpart, Simon Phipps, we can tackle the most urgent tasks of 2023: The European Cyber Resiliency Act and its twin regulation in the US, plus a silent threat that will never hit the public eye.

The challenge for OSI is raising enough funds to expand the Policy program with a full time manager position and European press relations. OSI is uniquely positioned to represent the widest interests of the public, given its charitable nature.

If you’re interested in donating for OSI to expand its Policy program to educate US and European policy makers, please donate now.

Discuss this and other topics during OSI’s informal office hours on Fridays. 

Stefano Maffulli
Executive Director, OSI

PS At the end of 2022 we decided to discontinue tracking email open rates. Despite having a very high rate for our email communications, we came to the conclusion that our most valuable audience is unlikely to accept pixels in their email clients anyway. Because that metric is too imprecise, we don’t believe it’s worth tracking. Same fate for click-through rates: those can be counted precisely but they’re annoying and provide us limited value so we’re dropping them.

In this month’s Open Source Initiative Newsletter

• Membership campaign update
• 2022 in numbers
• Hold the date: Open Source License Clinic – April 4, 2023 – Washington DC
• What is the Cyber Resilience Act and why it’s dangerous for Open Source
• Sponsored blog posts
• Meet OSI staff and board members
• New and renewing sponsors announcements

Membership campaign update

Our 2022 membership campaign wrapped up on January 13th and it was a big success! We exceeded our goal of signing up 300 new and renewing members. We also gained a dozen new Professional Members – thank you to everyone who participated. We couldn’t do our work without your support.

Only with a strong and active member base can we continue in our role as the internationally recognized nexus of trust, the foundation for, and authority in open source software.
Governmental agencies rely upon non-profits such as the OSI, neutral in their financial interests and chartered to serve the public good by their very definition to shape public policy.

If you are currently a supporting member, please consider becoming a Professional member. Your $300 contribution helps the OSI defend the public interest in the venues that matter. It also supports our public policy program and staff who can translate and inform our community about crucial issues, like the European AI Act, the US AI Bill of Rights, and cybersecurity legislation.

Support the OSI today – become a Professional Member!

The 2023 State of Open Source Report confirms security as top issue

The Open Source Initiative and OpenLogic by Perforce collaborated to launch a global survey about the use of open source software in organizations. Read more.

Hold the date: April 4, 2023

OSI will conduct its second Open Source License Clinic on April 4, 2023 in Washington DC at the offices of OSI’s pro bono counsel DLA Piper.  As part of fulfilling its non-profit educational mission and in collaboration with the D.C. legal and technology community, a one day workshop will cover advanced topics on Open Source Licensing of interest to the US federal government as well as emerging issues such as the confluence of AI models, licenses and data.

The program is under development. Program moderators at this writing include Deb Bryant, OSI US policy director and board member emeritus; Pam Chestek, founder Chestec Legal and OSI board member and License Committee chair; Stefano Mafulli, OSI Executive Director; Luis Villa, co-founder and general counsel at Tidelift and OSI board member Emeritus.

As OSI members you’re the first to know! More program details will be available, along with registration, in February.  If you have any questions in the meantime please contact deb.bryant@opensource.org.

What is the Cyber Resilience Act and why it’s dangerous for Open Source

The Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is an interesting and important proposal for a European law that aims to drive the safety and integrity of software of all kinds by extending the “CE” self-attestation mark to software. And it may harm Open Source. The proposal includes a requirement for self-certification by suppliers of software to attest conformity with the requirements of the CRA including security, privacy and the absence of Critical Vulnerability Events (CVEs). Read the full post.

Sponsored blog posts

BigBlueButton provides access to quality education through Open Source

BigBlueButton is an Open Source virtual classroom started in 2007 by OSI sponsor, Blindside Networks. What differentiates BigBlueButton from other web conferencing platforms is that it’s designed for the education market. Read the full post.

Apache Cassandra community looks to the future: Watch for a new release, conference spring 2023

Apache Cassandra, created by Facebook in 2007 and subsequently offered as an Open Source project, is the world’s most scalable database. OSI sponsor DataStax is committed to working with the Open Source community to make Cassandra easier to use, adopt, and extend, building on its decade-plus maturity to solidify its position as the leading database for cloud-native applications. Read the full post.

Meet OSI staff and board members

FOSDEM

Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director, Simon Phipps, Director of Standards, Deb Bryant, Director of Policy and many board members will be attending FOSDEM, February 4-5 in Brussels. 

State of Open Con 2023

OSI will have a table at the State of Open Con February 7-8 in London. If you plan to attend, please stop by and say hello! 

EU Open Source Policy Summit

Simon Phipps, Director of Standards, and Deb Bryant, Director of US Policy will be on a panel on February 3rd 2023:” Ducking Friendly Fire: How to Avoid Unintended Consequences to OSS in Lawmaking.”  

Software Heritage

The second annual symposium and summit on Software Heritage will take place on February 7th 2023, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Simon Phipps, Director of Standards, will be supporting their work.

SCALE 20x

OSI is looking for volunteers to help represent us by managing our table at SCaLE 20X that is happening Pasadena, CA, March 9-12, 2023. 

If you are planning to attend or would like to attend on OSI’s behalf, please let us know. We would be happy to provide you with a small reimbursement for travel and expenses.

We would be so grateful for your help. Please contact sponsors@opensource.org for more information.

Don’t miss Stefano Maffuli’s talk – Defining an Open Source AI

And a huge shoutout to all of our new and renewing sponsors

Supporter

• Sysdig

Renewing sponsors:
Community

• FindMyElectric 
• DrivenCoffee
• LoadView Testing
• CrossCompute

Partner

• m4ss
• O’Reilly Media
• CrowdSec 

Premier

• Google

Are you interested in sponsoring or partnering with the OSI? Contact us to find out more about how your organization can promote open source development, communities and software