As I alluded to in THE SUBDUER’S MANUAL: It’s All Invisible, all tech runs on software: instructions written by humans and stored away deep inside a device (I’m simplifying). The people who create software are called developers. When you use your phone, you have no idea what instructions have been put inside the software, all you see is the cute little screen keeping you entertained. But the questions remain. What are these instructions in the software? Would you consent to them if you knew what they were?
There are two particularly important terms which you must learn about software: “closed source” and “open source”. If software is described as “closed source”, it simply means that all the instructions embedded in the software are kept private. As a result:
Closed source developers have little to no accountability to the public. They are free to lie about what their software is actually doing.
And indeed this is exactly what they do. Please take a second to understand just how abusive this violation of your precious life is. For more information, read Permanent Record by Edward Snowden.
Now, there are of course many applications in which using closed source software makes sense. For example, developers of banking software who need to keep your accounts secure1, And closed source software is also necessary for enabling basic competition amongst rivalling businesses. In any case, this lack of accountability is a breeding ground for abuse and should not be ignored.
Open source software is simply the opposite: software whose instructions are made available to the public. As a result:
Open source developers have high accountability to the public. They are not free to lie about what their software is actually doing.
For open source software, literally anyone can check the instructions in the software for themselves. If you have the expertise, you can study everything that the software is doing, down to the finest detail and confirm that no abuse has been silently embedded. However, you probably don’t have the expertise and/or the time to study all the instructions inside open source software (I certainly don’t). This takes me to my final point:
If software is open source and popular, you have strong reasons to trust that the developers are held accountable since many people are using/vetting it.2
Understand the potential for abuse that’s embedded in closed source software. Keep your eye out for open source software.