A changing regulatory environment increasingly affects communities developing code in the open and stakeholders dependent on (FOSS) software. The supply-ecosystem ranges from volunteer-driven non-commercial open-source software projects to the creation of industrial-scale open-source software projects in context of international tech corporations. FOSS users include the largest companies in the world, small- and medium sized enterprises as well as civil society organizations, and the global scientific community.
The project aims to move beyond the current lobbying-discourse: Recognizing the challenges that a evolving legal environment for software development poses for coders and repositories alike, it accounts for the fundamental differences between highly commercial settings and interests, public institutional environments, and the variety of decentralized grass-roots contexts of production, distribution, and use. It is geared toward the public interest in specifically surveying the potential chilling effects of regulation on volunteer-driven software projects, scientific research, and digital development: With a heightened future risk of liability, there might be a shift towards industry-led projects and communities, because only well-resourced institutions are able to shoulder the compliance cost in the current setup.
Meanwhile, Governments and International Organisations are actively supporting efforts to create software as a “digital public goods”. These initiatives may be in a position to leverage their distinct position to support the creation of public digital infrastructure transnationally while navigating the complex regulatory landscape.