Libre Software
Libre software is a concept that I dont see much nowadays, instead people prefer OSS (open source software), which is a reality that is kinda curious knowing that what came first was the concept of Free Software (as in freedom).
People mistake OSS for Free Software, I was included in this some days ago till I read the gnu manifesto about what it is exactly.
Free as Freedom
The concept of Free Software lays in its foundations, the 4 essential freedoms:
- Use the code for what you want
- See the code and study how it works
- Redistribute copies so others can have contact with it
- Modify the code and share that modified copy to others
As you can see, these freedoms guarantee a colaborative spirit over the program and also the security and privacy of its user, by being able to see the source code you know that there is no data being shared to third parties by the program itself, nor any malware like keylogger or others.
OSS as subvertion
Then we reach another concept that looks similar, but it is not, the Open Source Software. People nowadays use it with the same connotation as free software thinking they are similar, but the ethics of free software are lost with OSS as companies learned how to use it to its benefit.
A company can keep its codebase closed while exposing non critical parts of its system to the public, receiving contributions and also the propaganda of being free and supportive to the community, but in really it is not that way.
OSS became a way to receive contribution from programmers for free and to make propaganda of the brand as they respect the ‘privacy’ and ‘freedom’ of its users.
Conclusion
Everything has a good and a bad side, but in terms of privacy I think the FOSS is more coherent with my vision over it. OSS is good, but it doesn’t entails all the philosophy and conclusions taken by the FOSS regarding its users, simply opening the code doesn’t means that it is safe as it can represent only a small part of a bigger system.
It is important more and more developers produce more free software so we can secure a future without us being dependant of software that we do not know how they work and how they do what they do, if they are safe to use or not, only we, as a community working together, can make it possible to exist.