FLOSS as Democratic Principle: Free Software as Democratic Principle

Our thesis is that core software infrastructure in a vibrant democracy must be able to be scrutinised, reviewed and made accountable by any citizen through access to the source code. At present, free software provides that opportunity. What is more, free software allows citizens to better participate in and improve upon the process of democracy. In this paper we examine this new justification for the use of free software in the public sector or government, which we label "free software as democratic principle." There is growing interest in and rhetoric about the ability of free software to bring more transparency to core software infrastructure within a governmental system. Our argument is that free software should be deployed in core democratic infrastructure because it will provide the level of transparency and openness that is required for the effective functioning of democratic processes. Some free software development could be seen as an intellectual infrastructure and should then be fostered for maximum public benefit. For example, core software infrastructure for voting process or electronic court processes should be transparent, i.e. available to be monitored and understood by any member of a democratic community. It would be a sad day for the functioning of a democratic system if inherent and/or coded bias in a software program skewed the result of an election or the determination of innocence or guilt of a person in court The purpose of this article is to outline an argument of the notion of "free software as democratic principle"; meaning free software should be deployed in core democratic infrastructure to sponsor accountability and transparency, and ultimately access to knowledge.