Open source software: Germany must break free from dependency

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The importance and potential of open source software for digital sovereignty was discussed at an expert hearing of the Bundestag's Digital Affairs Committee –, particularly in the state and public sector. In the coalition agreement, the coalition government had promised to promote the spread of open source instead of proprietary software: "Development contracts are generally commissioned as open source, and the corresponding software is always made public. We are building a public administration cloud based on a multi-cloud strategy and open interfaces as well as strict security and transparency requirements".

Billions for proprietary software

However, the reality is that the state "pumps billions into companies every year for software, further increasing their dependency and pushing their agendas onto the state and all of us", said Peter H. Ganten, CEO of the Open Source Business Alliance. According to the experts present, a cultural change is therefore needed. According to Ganten (PDF) and Bianca Kastl, from the Innovationsverbund Öffentliche Gesundheit (PDF), it is important that the state sets the framework conditions and does so over legislative periods. To this end, it should "include the development or operation of open source as a possible charitable purpose in the tax code", says Kastl.

Germany is dependent on big tech

According to Jutta Horstmann, Chairwoman of the Center for Digital Sovereignty in Public Administration (PDF), Germany's dependence on Big Tech is becoming apparent time and again, including in the digital sphere. The outcome of the US elections has already given us a foretaste of the unpredictability of the transatlantic relationship. Horstmann warned that dependencies on individual big tech companies from the US would dominate administrative IT "to a critical degree – in terms of PC workstations, databases and virtualization, and increasingly also in the cloud and AI".

There is a real risk "that services will be compromised, data will be leaked or access to it will be denied, while costs explode". The administration is trapped and has to accept the decisions of the manufacturers. The increasing switch to the cloud is exacerbating the effect. According to Horstmann, the state can "no longer ensure that services, processes and data are protected from third-party access and are accessible in the long term". Open source can strengthen transparency and thus citizens' trust in the state, "a trust that is fundamental for the acceptance of artificial intelligence in the administration at the latest". This would require a framework from the next Bundestag.

Courage for change

Currently, many open source projects are created by individuals or small organizations in their spare time, but have long enabled the reuse of their software and contributed to the common good. Courage is needed to further develop the open source ecosystem, especially due to the financial uncertainty. But also "so that open source can function in a government context", says Kastl.

"For me, open source is not an article of faith, but actually a very pragmatic tool," and "without open standards, there would have been no World Wide Web," says Stefan Decker, Professor of Information Systems and Databases at RWTH Aachen University. An infrastructure for data rooms is currently being developed across Europe.

In his statement (PDF), Deckert cites the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network, CKAN, a data management system, as a relevant example in the context of public administration. "We need to bring our data together and we need to be able to share our data so that we can use it to solve humanity's problems," says Deckert. It is not particularly effective that all industries need their own software systems – for example to register cars. He calls for resources to be used more effectively.

Cultural change needed

"Open source means full transparency of the source code. It requires a culture in which mistakes are an opportunity to learn and not something to be ashamed of. It also requires a willingness to talk directly to users," says Isabel Drost-Fromm (PDF), member and former board member of the Apache Software Foundation. People should work together at grassroots level and thus become innovative more quickly. "The public lowers the barriers to entry. Support, translations, writing documentation, all valuable contributions," says Drost-Fromm. The Corona-Warn-App was a good example of this.

According to Ganten, prices have increased tenfold in some areas. The compulsion to move to the cloud, for example with Microsoft, brings with it dependency and loss of control. For far too long, people believed that they could "just buy software" and didn't need to understand it. This resulted in dependence on proprietary software. The loss of control has a "completely different dimension to dependence on Russian natural gas and will present us with completely different challenges", warned Ganten.

The myth of "insecure software"

When planning or developing software, it is often said that the code is not disclosed because this would be insecure and the software would therefore be compromised more quickly. According to some of those present, this is a myth. The only way to counter this is to "develop secure software". Disclosure does not make the software insecure, on the contrary. "The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) also classifies open source systems as more secure, as verifiability by the public is an effective means of quality assurance," according to the statement by business information scientist Prof. Helmut Krcmar (PDF). Nevertheless, openness is no automatic guarantee of security.

Digital sovereignty

"Open source plays a key role in promoting digital sovereignty," says Krcmar. He describes it as presumptuous "to frame the replication of proprietary products such as Microsoft Office on German clouds as digitally sovereign. We should also boldly contradict this presumption and prefer more independent solutions such as openDesk". The public sector should "not be sold nonsense".

Discussion about "public procurement law"

Dr. Oliver Grün (PDF), President of the Bundesverband IT-Mittelstand, wanted to dispel "significant misunderstandings and misconceptions regarding the benefits of open source for digital sovereignty". According to him, open source helps digital sovereignty, but he does not see the equation with open source. "We cannot confirm the equation of proprietary software with overseas [...]," said Grün. Open source should not be given preference in the digitalization of administration, as this would not make it possible to become independent of Silicon Valley. In his opinion, the debate should be objectified in favor of an "ideology-free and technology-open path".

State-funded software should be free

"Since the Free Software Foundation Europe was founded, [...] we have been advocating that code paid for by taxpayers' money must also be available to the public, i.e. as free software," said Alexander Sander from the Free Software Foundation (PDF). On the one hand, this has direct advantages for public administration, "but also consistently positive spillover effects for society and also for the economy" – if software can also be used in other areas. He also addressed the basic principles of free software, namely that it can be used, understood, distributed and improved for any purpose. If these principles were restricted, one could no longer speak of free software. This is often the case with "openwashing", when companies or organizations pretend to develop free software in order to gain market advantages.

"This practice is also often used by lobbyists to conceal interests and gain advantages in legislation, regulation and procurement," says Sander. According to the German government, "only three percent of solutions in Germany are actually available to the public", Sander explains. This means that the software cannot be used in other areas. It would therefore be helpful to promote open source projects, which would not only benefit public administration, but also the economy and growth.

Hen-and-egg problem

From Ganten's point of view, there is a chicken-and-egg problem: "So I buy proprietary again and then the 85 percent of Mr. Grün's members make proprietary software again and then it goes on like this". It is important that the industry can adapt to open source. Open source is already included in 95 percent of proprietary software. Although the changeover would not happen "overnight", there would have to be a point in time when open source software would essentially be purchased.

"Open digital infrastructure can be thought of as the roads and bridges of the digital world, just as physical infrastructure connects our cities, powers our economy and supports our daily lives, digital infrastructure enables the smooth flow of information and services for government, commerce and society," said Adriana Groh, head of the Sovereign Tech Agency. However, system maintenance does not make headlines, but it is essential and "the longer you don't do it, the more expensive it becomes." Open source software has now "become the basis of our modern lives" and is used everywhere. More control and the avoidance of economic and geopolitical risks are only possible with open source.

(mack)