The UN Ditches Google for Form Submissions, Opts for Open Source 'CryptPad' Instead

Did you know there's an initiative to drive Open Source adoption both within the United Nations — and globally? Launched in March, it's the work of the Digital Technology Network (under the UN's chief executive board) which "works to advance open source technologies throughout UN agencies," promoting "collaboration and scalable solutions to support the UN's digital transformation." Fun fact: The first group to endorse the initiative's principles was the Open Source Initiative...

"The Open Source Initiative applauds the United Nations for recognizing the growing importance of Open Source in solving global challenges and building sustainable solutions, and we are honored to be the first to endorse the UN Open Source Principles," said Stefano Maffulli, executive director of OSI.
But that's just the beginining, writes It's FOSS News: As part of the UN Open Source Principles initiative, the UN has invited other organizations to support and officially endorse these principles. To collect responses, they are using CryptPad instead of Google Forms... If you don't know about CryptPad, it is a privacy-focused, open source online collaboration office suite that encrypts all of its content, doesn't log IP addresses, and supports a wide range of collaborative documents and tools for people to use.

While this happened back in late March, we thought it would be a good idea to let people know that a well-known global governing body like the UN was slowly moving towards integrating open source tech into their organization... I sincerely hope the UN continues its push away from proprietary Big Tech solutions in favor of more open, privacy-respecting alternatives, integrating more of their workflow with such tools.
16 groups have already endorsed the UN Open Source Principles (including the GNOME Foundation, the Linux Foundation, and the Eclipse Foundation).

Here's the eight UN Open Source Principles:

1. Open by default: Making Open Source the standard approach for projects
2. Contribute back: Encouraging active participation in the Open Source ecosystem
3. Secure by design: Making security a priority in all software projects
4. Foster inclusive participation and community building: Enabling and facilitating diverse and inclusive contributions
5. Design for reusability: Designing projects to be interoperable across various platforms and ecosystems
6. Provide documentation: Providing thorough documentation for end-users, integrators and developers
7. RISE (recognize, incentivize, support and empower): Empowering individuals and communities to actively participate
8. Sustain and scale: Supporting the development of solutions that meet the evolving needs of the UN system and beyond.

I turn on my computer for the first time today...

[Shane A Leslie]

and as usual the first thing that I open up is slash Dot to find the first article is good news about open source software being adopted by the United Nations.
I think I'm going to turn off the internet now and go to bed; occasionally you get to have a good day.

virtucon

[Virtucon]

in my Professor Farnsworth voice..

"Good news everyone!"

Maybe the UN should sponsor F/OSS projects?

[ctilsie242]

I wonder if the UN should sponsor F/OSS projects. Since companies don't want to donate or support them, most of the time... and most companies wouldn't even be able to exist were it not for F/OSS that their stuff is based on (including clang, gcc, and other lower layers), maybe this should be something in the realm of governments.

Downside with the UN... it is the UN, and a huge bureaucracy. Maybe something newer and more able to steer, as well as have the ability to negotiate funding, for example, getting

Downside

[will4]

"Downside with the UN... it is the UN, and a huge bureaucracy."

It's a political lobbying organization seeking to transfer money from countries with a workable system of laws, citizens who mostly respect each other's property and a limited level of political corruption; to countries who suffer the ills of being perpetually unable to run their own country.

It's also wants an administration fee for that massive transfer of wealth.

Bill Gates and others in the most wealthy class of women and men have tried direct

Re:

[RossCWilliams]

Bill Gates and others in the most wealthy class of women and men have tried direct action in funding operations in third-world countries to avoid the UN and other legacy international organizations.

Of course. They want control.

breath of fresh air

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

The actual idea of using open source software specifically not using google or any third party is so rare it's shocking to hear.
I'm shocked, but in a good way.

CryptPad's security claims don't make sense

[viperidaenz]

End-to-end encrypted.... but you can also create shared links.
To verify a contact, you ask them for their public key and compare that? Public keys are public. You should ask them to encrypt something with their private key and verify you can decrypt it with their public key - aka digital signature verification.

They say the server can't decrypt you data, but it seems like they facilitate the sharing of the encryption keys.

It appears that key exchange is done via URL's
https://docs.cryptpad.org/en/u... [cryptpad.org]

If the private keys are part of the URL, they're stored in browser history and the logs of any corporate proxy the computer you're accessing them from, any browser extension you have installed

This one's kind of funny
https://docs.cryptpad.org/en/u... [cryptpad.org]
Translates to: "yes, former team members still have access to everything past and future, but don't worry, the code that runs in their browser prevents it. Surely they won't be able to get around that."