U.S. law governing federal procurement U.S. Code Title 41, Section 103 defines commercial product as including a product, other than real property, that (A) is of a type customarily used by the general public or by nongovernmental entities for purposes other than governmental purposes; and (B) has been sold, leased, or licensed, or offered for sale, lease, or license, to the general public. For example, the LGPL permits the covered software (usually a library) to be embedded in a larger work under many different licenses (including proprietary licenses), subject to certain conditions. Q: What are the risks of the government releasing software as OSS? Establish project website. If that competitors use of OSS results in an advantage to the DoD (such as lower cost, faster schedule, increased performance, or other factors such as increased flexibility), contractors should expect that the DoD will choose the better bid. Document from where and when any external software was acquired, as well as the license conditions, so that future users and maintainers can easily comply with the license terms. The DoD has not expressed a position on whether or not software should be patented, but it is interested in ensuring that software that effectively supports its missions can be developed in a cost-effective, timely, and legal manner. An agency that failed to consider open source software, and instead only considered proprietary software, would fail to comply with these laws, because it would unjustifiably exclude a significant part of the commercial market. A certification mark is any word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination thereof owned by one party who certifies the goods and services of others when they meet certain standards. Software not subject to copyright is often called public domain software. . However, software written entirely by federal government employees as part of their official duties can be released as public domain software. Obviously, contractors cannot release anything (including software) to the public if it is classified. In the DoD, the GIG Technical Guidance Federation is a useful resource for identifying recommended standards (which tend to be open standards). Any reproduction of this computer software, or portions thereof, marked with this legend must also reproduce these markings.. Community OSS support is never enough by itself to provide this support, because the OSS community cannot patch your servers or workstations for you. In the commercial world, the copyright holders are typically the individuals and organizations that originally developed the software. Clarifying Guidance Regarding Open Source Software (OSS) states that "Software items, including code fixes and enhancements, developed for the Government should be released to the public (such as under an open source license) when all of the following conditions are met: The government or contractor must determine the answer to these questions: Source: Publicly Releasing Open Source Software Developed for the U.S. Government. The DoD Antivirus Software License Agreement with McAfee allows active DoD employees to utilize the antivirus software for home use. Users can get their software directly from the trusted repository, or get it through distributors who acquire it (and provide additional value such as integration with other components, testing, special configuration, support, and so on). 1.1.4. how to ensure the interoperability of systems; how to build systems that are manageable. If you have concerns about using in-house staff, augmented by the OSS community for those components, then select and pay a commercial organization to provide the necessary support. The owner of the mark exercises control over the use of the mark; however, because the sole purpose of a certification mark is to indicate that certain standards have been met, use of the mark is by others., You dont have to register a trademark to have a trademark. Requiring that all developers be cleared first can reduce certain risks (at substantial costs), where necessary, but even then there is no guarantee. Examples include GPL applications running on proprietary operating systems or wrappers, and GPL applications that use proprietary components explicitly marked as non-GPL. ensure that security is designed in from the start and not tacked on as an after thought. Software/hardware for which the implementation, proofs of its properties, and all required tools are released under an OSS license are termed open proofs(see the open proofs website for more information). Look at the Numbers! Some have found that community support can be very helpful. The FAR and DFARS specifically permit different agreements to be struck, within certain boundaries, and other agencies have other supplements. Classified information may not be released to the public without special authorization to do so. This memo is available at, The Open Technology Development Roadmap was released by the office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Advanced Systems and Concepts, on 7 Jun 2006. It depends on the goals for the project, however, here are some guidelines: Public domain where required by law. If the contractor was required to transfer copyright to the government for works produced under contract (e.g., because the FAR 52.227-17 or DFARS 252.227-7020 clauses apply to it), then the government can release the software as open source software, because the government owns the copyright. Indeed, many people have released proprietary code that is malicious. The purpose of Department of Defense Information Network Approved Products List (DODIN APL) is to maintain a single consolidated list of products that have completed Interoperability (IO) and Cybersecurity certification. (Such terms might include open source software, but could also include other software). Also, there are rare exceptions for NIST and the US Postal Service employees where a US copyright can be obtained (see CENDIs Frequently Asked Questions About Copyright). Colleges & Your Majors. The project manager, program manager, or other comparable official determines that it is in the Governments interest to do so, such as through the expectation of future enhancements by others. Its flexibility is as high as GOTS, since it can be arbitrarily modified. As explained in detail below, nearly all OSS is commercial computer software as defined in US law and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, and if it used unchanged (or with only minor changes), it is almost always COTS. For commercial software, such needed fixes could be provided by a software vendor as part of a warranty, or in the case of OSS, by the government (or its contractors). Note that this also applies to proprietary software, which often have even stricter limits on if/how the software may be changed. AOD-9604. When the software is already deployed, does the project develop and deploy fixes? Since it is typically not legal to modify proprietary software at all, or it is legal only in very limited ways, it is trivial to determine when these additional terms may apply. In some cases, the sources of information for OSS differ. Tech must enable mission success. As an aid, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) maintains a list of Licenses that are popular and widely used or with strong communities. (The MIT license is similar to public domain release, but with some legal protection from lawsuits.). However, often software can be split into various components, some of which are classified and some of which are not, and it is to these unclassified portions that this text addresses. An OTD project might be OSS, but it also might not be (it might be OGOTS/GOSS instead). For local guidance, Airmen are encouraged to . Commercially-available software that is not open source software is typically called proprietary or closed source software. Thus, as long as the software has at least one non-governmental use, software released (or offered for release) to the public is a commercial product for procurement purposes, even if it was originally developed using public funds. A protective license protects the software from becoming proprietary, and instead enforces a share and share alike approach between parties. You must release it without any copyright protection (e.g., as not subject to copyright protection in the United States) if you release it at all and if it was developed wholly by US government employee(s) as part of their official duties. Part of the ADA, Pub.L. Elite RHVAC. Not under typical open source software licenses based on copyright, but there is an alternative with the same practical effect. The summary of changes section reads as follows as of Dec. 3, 2021: This interim change revises DAFI 36-2903 by adding Chief of Staff of the Air Force-approved Air Force Virtual Uniform Board items, standardizing guidance for the maintenance duty uniform, republishing guidance from Department of the Air Force guidance memorandum for female hair . Yes, its possible. https://www.disa.mil/network-services/ucco, The DoD Cyber Exchange is sponsored by Thus, as long as the software has at least one non-governmental use, software licensed (or offered for license) to the public is a commercial product for procurement purposes. Intellipedia is implemented using MediaWiki, the open source software developed to implement Wikipedia. In contrast, typical proprietary software costs are per-seat, not per-improvement or service. There are many definitions for the term open standard. Since OSS licenses are quite generous, the only license-violating actions a developer is likely to try is to release software under a more stringent license and those will have little effect if they cannot be enforced in court. As noted in the article Open Source memo doesnt mandate a support vendor (by David Perera, FierceGovernmentIT, May 23, 2012), the intent of the memo was not to issue a blanket requirement that all open source software come bundled with contractor support or else it cant be used If a Defense agency is able to sustain the open source software with its own skills and talents then that can be enough to satisfy the intent of the memo. In addition, How robust the support plan need be can also vary on the nature of the software itself For command and control software, the degree would have to be greater than for something thats not so critical to mission execution. DoDIN Approved Products List. Thus, components that have the potential to (eventually) support many users are more likely to succeed. Where possible, it may be better to divide such components into smaller components in a way that avoids this issue. No. The example of Borlands InterBase/Firebird is instructive. 2019 Approvals. Even if source code is necessary (e.g., for source code analyzers), adequate source code can often be regenerated by disassemblers and decompilers sufficiently to search for vulnerabilities. Currently there are no IO Certificates available for this Tracking Number. Note also that merely being developed for the government is no guarantee that there is no malicious embedded code. When including externally-developed software in a larger system (e.g., as a library), make it clearly separable from the other components and easy to update. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) interprets linking a GPL program with another program as creating a derivative work, and thus imposing this license term in such cases. With practically no exceptions, successful open standards for software have OSS implementations. If the contract includes the typical FAR 52.227-14 (Rights in data - general) clause, without any special alternatives or additions, then the contractor must make a written request for permission to assert copyright in works containing data first produced under the contract. There are substantial benefits, including economic benefits, to the creation and distribution of copyrighted works under public licenses that range far beyond traditional license royalties The choice to exact consideration in the form of compliance with the open source requirements of disclosure and explanation of changes, rather than as a dollar-denominated fee, is entitled to no less legal recognition. For the DoD, the risks of failing to consider the use of OSS where appropriate are of increased cost, increased schedule, and/or reduced performance (including reduced innovation or security) to the DoD due to the failure to use the commercial software that best meets the needs (when that is the case). This definition is essentially identical to what the DoD has been using since publication of the 16 October 2009 memorandum from the DoD CIO, Clarifying Guidance Regarding Open Source Software (OSS). Any inconsistencies in this solicitation or contract shall be resolved by giving precedence in the following order: (1) the schedule of supplies/services; (2) the Assignments, Disputes, Payments, Invoice, Other Compliances, and Compliance with Laws Unique to Government Contracts paragraphs of this clause; (3) the clause at 52.212-5; (4) addenda to this solicitation or contract, including any license agreements for computer software; . As a result, it is difficult to develop software and be confident that it does not violate enforceable patents. 7101-7109). Furthermore, 52.212-4(s) says: (s) Order of precedence. Reasons for taking this approach vary. Even when the original source is necessary for in-depth analysis, making source code available to the public significantly aids defenders and not just attackers. No. For example, users of proprietary software must typically pay for a license to use a copy or copies. Review really does happen. This approach may inhibit later release of the combined result to other parties (e.g., allies), as release to an ally would likely be considered distribution as defined in the GPL. Some protocols and formats have been specifically devised and reviewed to avoid patents; using them is more likely to avoid problems. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update Information. In general, Security by Obscurity is widely denigrated. These decisions largely held that the GNU General Public License, version 2 was enforceable in a series of five related legal cases loosely referred to as Versata v. Ameriprise, although there were related suits against Versata by XimpleWare. Rachel Cohen joined Air Force Times as senior reporter in March 2021. No. DISA Tools Mission Statement. References to specific products or organizations are for information only, and do not constitute an endorsement of the product/company. Q: Has the U.S. government released OSS projects or improvements? .. Example: GPL software can be stored on the same computer disk as (most kinds of) proprietary software. SUBJECT: Software Applications Approval Process . The following externally-developed evaluation processes or tips may be of use: Migrating from an existing system to an OSS approach requires addressing the same issues that any migration involves. The Air Force Institute of Technology, or AFIT, is the Air Force's graduate school of engineering and management as well as its institution for technical professional continuing education. . The government normally gets unlimited rights in software when that software is created in the performance of a contract with government funds. No, DoD policy does not require you to have commercial support for OSS, but you must have some plan for support. This is not uncommon. Yes, in general. Such software does not normally undergo widespread public review, indeed, the source code is typically not provided to the public and there are often license clauses that attempt to inhibit review further (e.g., forbidding reverse engineering and/or forbidding the public disclosure of analysis results). It can be argued that classified software can be arbitrarily combined with GPL code, beyond the approaches described above. Thus, avoid releasing software under only the original (4-clause) BSD license (which has been replaced by the new or revised 3-clause licence), the Academic Free License (AFL), the now-abandoned Common Public License 1.0 (CPL), the Open Software License (OSL), or the Mozilla Public License version 1.1 (MPL 1.1). Widespread availability and use of the software (which increases the likelihood of detection), Configuration management systems that record the identity of individual contributors (which acts as a deterrent), Licenses or development policies that warn against the unlawful inclusion of material, or require people to specifically assert that they are acting lawfully (which reduce the risk of unintentional infringement), Lack of evidence of infrigement (e.g., an Internet search for project name + copyright infringement turns up nothing). Contractors must still abide with all other laws before being allowed to release anything to the public. While budget constraints and reduced staffing have forced the APL process to operate in a limited manner, . If this is the case, then the contractor cannot release the software as OSS without permission, because the contractor doesnt own the copyright. The first-ever Oklahoma Black History Day was celebrated at the state Capitol Feb. 13 with Lt. Gen. Stacey Hawkins, Air Force Sustainment Center commander, serving as the keynote speaker for the event.Hosted by the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus, a focus of this . In short, OSS more accurately reflects the economics of software development; some speculate that this is one reason why OSS has become so common. The CBP ruling points out that 19 U.S.C. 1.1.3. Service Mixing GPL can provide generic services to other software. OTD includes both OSS and OGOTS/GOSS. Each product must be examined on its own merits. In addition, an attacker can often acquire the original source code from suppliers anyway (either because the supplier voluntarily provides it, or via attacks against the supplier); in such cases, if only the attacker has the source code, the attacker ends up with another advantage. The Department of Defense (DoD) Software Modernization Strategy was approved Feb. 1. GOTS software should not be released when it implements a strategic innovation, i.e. It costs essentially nothing to download a file. All executables that is not on a base approval list will soon be blocked. Q: When a DoD contractor is developing a new system/software as a deliverable in a typical DoD contract, is it possible to include existing open source software? This strengthens evaluations by focusing on technology specific security requirements. Open standards can aid open source software projects: Note that open standards aid proprietary software in exactly the same way. [ top of page] More Mobile Apps. Yes. Certification Report Security Target. Computer and electronic hardware that is designed in the same fashion as open source software (OSS) is sometimes termed open source hardware. With the Acrobat Reader, you can view, navigate, print and present any Portable Document Format (PDF) file. Coat or jacket depending on the season. Adobe Acrobat Reader software is copyrighted software which gives users instant access to documents in their original form, independent of computer platform. Even if OSS has no cost to download, there is still a cost for OSS due to installation, support, and so on (whether done in-house or through external organizations). In short, the ADAs limitation on voluntary services does not broadly forbid the government from working with organizations and people who identify themselves as volunteers, including those who develop OSS. It's like it dropped off the face of the earth. In Wallace vs. FSF, Judge Daniel Tinder stated that the GPL encourages, rather than discourages, free competition and the distribution of computer operating systems and found no anti-trust issues with the GPL. OSS is typically developed through a collaborative process. In most cases, this GPL license term is not a problem. Q: Where can I release open source software that are new projects to the public? Each hosting service tends to be focused on particular kinds of projects, so prefer a hosting service that well-matches the project. Conversely, where source code is hidden from the public, attackers can attack the software anyway as described above. Most projects prefer to receive a set of smaller changes, so that they can review each change for correctness. DoDIN APL is managed by the APCO | disa.meade.ie.list.approved-products-certification-office@mail.mil. As noted by the 16 October 2009 policy memorandum from the DoD CIO, in almost all cases OSS is a commercial item as defined by US Law (Title 41) and regulation (the FAR). Air Force ROTC is offered at over 1,100 colleges and universities in the continental United States, Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Indeed, because a calculation of damages is inherently speculative, these types of license restrictions might well be rendered meaningless absent the ability to enforce through injunctive relief. In short, it determined that the OSS license at issue in the case (the Artistic license) was indeed an enforceable license. The following marking should be added to software source code when the government has unlimited rights due to the use of the DFARS 252.227-7014 contract: The U.S. Government has Unlimited Rights in this computer software pursuant to the clause at DFARS 252.227-7014. Contractors for other federal agencies may have a different process to use, but after going through a process they can often release such software as open source software. Under the same reasoning, the CBP determined that building an object file from source code performed a substantial transformation into a new article. Cyberspace Capabilities Center Re-designation Ceremony Nov 7, 1300. First of all, being a US firm has little relationship to the citizenship of its developers and its suppliers developers. However, you should examine past experience and your intended uses before depending on this as a primary mechanism for support. In particular, U.S. law (10 USC 2377) requires a preference for commercial products for procurement of supplies or services. The following organizations examine licenses; licenses should pass at least the first two industry review processes, and preferably all of them, else they have a greatly heightened risk of not being an open source software license: In practice, nearly all open source software is released under one of a very few licenses that are known to meet this definition. Similarly, SourceForge/Apache (in 2001) and Debian (in 2003) countered external attacks. Cisco takes a deep dive into the latest technologies to get it done. OGOTS/GOSS software is often not OSS; software is only OSS if it meets the definition of OSS. The cases are too complicated to summarize here, other than to say that the GPLv2 was clearly regarded as enforceable by the courts. (Supports Block Load, Room-by-Room Load, Zone-by-Zone and Adequate Exposure Diversity or AED Calculations) Wrightsoft Right-J8. The term has primarily been used to reflect the free release of information about the hardware design, such as schematics, bill of materials and PCB layout data, or its representation in a hardware description language (HDL), often with the use of open source software to drive the hardware.
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