[LINK] US Congress and Open Source

[Jan Whitaker]

http://www.gcn.com/print/27_23/47157-1.html?topic=&CMP=OTC-RSS
Open-source software gets a plug from Congress
By Joab Jackson

IT'S RARE TO see a concept as technical as open-source software in a 
federal funding bill. But the House's proposed National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (H.R. 5658) (GCN.com, 
Quickfind 1209) includes language that calls for military services to 
consider open-source software when procuring manned or unmanned 
aerial vehicles.

The bill doesn't elaborate on the use of open source, but the House 
Armed Services Committee report accompanying the measure (GCN.com, 
Quickfind 1208) clarifies lawmakers' intentions. And although the 
language is confined to aerial vehicles, its implications are broader.

"The committee is concerned by the rising costs and decreasing 
security associated with software development for information 
technology systems.

These rising costs are linked to the increasing complexity of 
software, which has also resulted in increasing numbers of system 
vulnerabilities that might be exploited by malicious hackers and 
potential adversaries," the report states, "The committee encourages 
the department to rely more broadly on [open-source software] and 
establish it as a standard for intra-department software development."
[snip]


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