As mentioned in THE SUBDUER’S MANUAL: It’s All Invisible, all technology runs on software: written instructions that are stored away deep inside a device. The people who create software are often called developers. When you use your phone, you have no idea what instructions have been put inside the software. All you see is the screen keeping you engaged. But the questions remain. What are the instructions in the software? Would you consent to them if you knew what they were?
All software can be categorised into one of two groups: “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. For more information, you may want to read Permanent Record by Edward Snowden.
There are of course many applications in which using closed source software makes sense. For example, developers of banking software cannot make their software open source as it would jeopardise the security of their customers’ funds; everyone and anyone would be able to search for vulnerabilities and exploit them. Closed source software is also necessary for enabling basic competition amongst rivalling businesses (i.e. you can’t share your most lucrative secrets with your competitors). Regardless of these legitimate reasons, the fact remains that this lack of accountability creates a breeding ground for abuse.
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, 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.
You have strong reasons to trust that the developers of software that is both open-source and popular. Popular open-source software is constantly under scrutiny and therefore significantly more trustworthy and transparent.
Choose wisely.
Many people use closed-sourced apps without being aware of their risks and of the presence of alternative options.
There are many open source apps available to you. Here’s a start.
