Our friends at Code For America today announced the launch of CiviCommons, a place on the web for governments at every level to share the software they are building (or have built). As the Open Source ethic continues to drive itself into Government, there becomes an obvious need to share the fruits of the labor of people who'd otherwise not have such a forum.

This sharing is so important!  Not just from a cost perspective (shared code means less has to be done from scratch, and that's good for everyone), but also because it creates collaborative networks of government IT workers and promotes the sharing of code.  More human connection and cooperation is vitally important for our collective future.

Richard Stallman, one of the architects of the Free and Open Source Software movement, draws some very clear lines between the freedom to share and adapt software with fundamental rights and liberties expressed in the U.S. Constitution. Being able to see the code and the freedom to manipulate the code, especially when that code affects our daily lives, is a matter of personal freedom as basic and inalienable as the right to assembly and freedom of speech.  Not even Jefferson could envision a world run by software, but here we are.

While CivicActions has been focused largely on serving nonprofits and foundations with strategy and development services, we heartily support the adoption of Free and Open Source software in government.  When CodeForAmerica named their project, they saw that CivicActions owned the domain and asked us if we'd be willing to let them use it.

We were happy to give the domain to C4A without a single string attached because we love them and what they're doing, and we strongly support the adoption of FOSS values in government.  The opportunities presented by CiviCommons are obvious and we're excited to see another step forward for democracy in the digital age.

Congratulations to CodeForAmerica on your announcement and we'll be eagerly waiting for future news about the good that's coming from this new, important resource for Government.