Serkan HolatOpen Source as Critical Infrastructure - A White Paper by Block, Inc., with input from the Open Source Initiative đź’Ż
https://opensource.block.xyz/blog/open-source-critical-infra-whitepaper/
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Aral Balkan@coni2k Now if only we could also adopt that mindset for free software that exists to benefit people, not corporations.
@aral The paper mentions German STF as an example, which supports FOSS across the field. Do you think that’s not the case?
I think it’s quite positive that the “FOSS should be treated as a public infrastructure” argument coming from a US-based company like Block. That alone probably can shift some minds in this space.
Next steps should be:
* Scale the public funding structures (data-driven + usage-based funding), ideally at the EU-level.
* Tap into the tax system to capture the value of FOSS and channel the tax income to the fund (instead of fixed budgets).
* Allow any entity to contribute to the FOSS ecosystem and generate revenue (minimize proprietary / maximize FOSS), again across the board.
I tried to expand this position in my input for the EC’s Open Digital Ecosystems call. I’d be happy to hear your thoughts:
