Security and Free Software

Benoît Sibaud bsibaud at april.org
Mon Sep 20 22:29:37 UTC 2004


> Occasionally the question arises: 
> 		
> 	Is Free Software more secure?
> 
> And what statement can be made about this, e.g. by the FSFE.
> My answer to this is:
> 	
> 	Free Software has a higher chance of being secure.

No (less) spyware/adware
Independance (from governments, firms, political groups, etc.)
Transparence
Peer-review (large peer review in fact)
Less marketing constraints
You can read the code (that's needed for security)
You can fix the code. (vs you need a new editor version)
Anybody can fix it. (vs editor can fix it)
Public bugzilla (you know there are security bugs)
...

-- 
Benoît Sibaud



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