U.S. Federal Source Code Policy: FSF supports, and urges improvements - comment by April 18!

The text of the proposed policy and all comments are available, and we have also published our comment here on fsf.org.

The public comment period for this proposal is open through 11:59pm EDT on Monday, April 18, 2016. Email your comment to sourcecode@omb.eop.gov.

The proposal could be a big step in the right direction for the U.S., and in our comment, we suggest several improvements.

• We urge the federal government to recognize and include the term "free software" and the Free Software Definition, indicating that this policy is designed to protect the autonomy of government and the rights of its people.
• The proposal is to release 20% of custom code each year: we recommend releasing all code as free.
• Additionally, free documentation should be included in the policy.
• The federal government needs to address its contradictory habit of requiring or recommending the use of proprietary software, including non-free JavaScript.
• The government should not require use of GitHub in order
  to contribute to government projects under this initiative -- our code repository criteria explain important concerns in this area.

You can submit your own comments regarding this proposal, supporting the FSF's suggestions and adding your own ideas for improvement, through 11:59pm EDT on Monday, April 18, 2016. Email your comment to sourcecode@omb.eop.gov.