Running for the board of the Open Source Initiative – a few words

Well, it has been a while I have posted anything on this blog, a little bit over a hear to be precise. I intend to post more in 2018 but I will likely not keep a regular schedule.
Today I would like to explain my reasons for my candidacy at the board of the Open Source Initiative. I can think of two kinds of reason for my decision: one is personal, and the other one is directly related to current state of Open Source and software freedom. Let’s start with the first one: I’m currently helping the Open Information Security Foundation and the Suricata project in my capacity at ANSSI, while contributing in a minor way to the LibreOffice project and the Document Foundation.
I’m also helping an exciting blockchain project called NotaryTrade, which relies both on Free & Open Source Software and Open Hardware. These are my “major” involvements at the time, and what this means is that I’m no longer focused on one community and one project like I was several years ago. The way I work and contribute, while remaining the same in many ways, has changed. What is different as well is my vantage point on the  policies affecting software freedom and I believe I could be useful to one of the most important entities in the field, the Open Source Initiative. This brings me to my second reason:

Free/Open Source Software has won. That’s not exactly new. What has NOT won however is the Free/Open Source Software as a set of principles and ideas. The entire industry is happy to reuse Open Source components but reluctant to admit they’re integrating these same components in their solutions. There’s a large part of the IT industry that does not hire contributors to Open Source projects in their capacity as Open Source projects practitioners. Yet it will gladly reuse components licensed under an OSI-approved license. In other words, a large part of the IT industry handles Open Source Software as an externality it does not have to pay for, yet relies upon for the solutions it sells and distributes.

Another worrying trend is an increase in attacks on the basic legal aspects of Open Source Software (and Open Standards as well): public policy initiatives as well as industry-wide moves aim at weakening the intellectual property tenets of Open Source and we must ensure that these trends be halted and the wider industry educated on Open Source and open standards.

The Open Source Initiative is currently in the right position to improve the standing of Open Source in the industry and defend its principles and licenses against damaging policy projects. I would like to help the OSI tackle these challenges to the best of my abilities.

You can find a short bio and a few key “agenda items” on the my candidate page and I’m of course happy to address or answer any comment posted there or here on this blog. I would also like to specially thank the Open Information Security Foundation(OISF) for its support of my candidacy. If you don’t know what the OISF does visit the Suricata project and you will discover how Open Source plays a major role in cybersecurity. Last but not least, I’m asking for your support and I hope you will help strengthen the OSI board with your vote.