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The commitment of cooperatives and the solidarity economy to free technologies is consistent with their values and, at the same time, gives autonomy to the cooperative movement. It makes it possible for technological decisions not to be based on a socio-economic model focused on competition and maximisation of private profit. We review what makes a technology free and which licences to choose.
This year at femProcomuns, we have set out to better explain and delve deeper into the techno-ethical criteria we use when working with or providing technology. In 2023, as part of a study we conducted on behalf of the Federation of Worker Cooperatives of Catalonia (together with Colectic, Coopdevs and the UOC), we considered which technologies were appropriate for cooperativism. We then identified four key areas: free, shared, provided by cooperatives and provided locally. Below, we would like to revisit the arguments for choosing free technologies, while also recalling their definition and reviewing the main licences.
What makes a technology free?
Free technologies are defined as those that guarantee four freedoms:
Freedom 0 to run the program, for any purpose. Freedom 1 to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish. Access to the source code is a necessary condition to exercise this freedom. Freedom 2 to redistribute copies in order to help other people. Freedom 3 to improve the programme and make these improvements public for everyone, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the source code is a necessary condition for exercising this freedom. Initially designed for computer software, these freedoms can be extended to any technology or, at least, to the media that define its design. These four freedoms are embodied in a public licence that goes with the programme or technological design and, in practice, ensure that everyone – authors, users, distributors and authors of derivative works – have the same rights. Contributors retain the moral right to be recognised as authors.
Why free technologies are strategic for cooperativism and consistent with its principles
Since everyone who receives a free technology has the same rights as its authors, free technologies can be appropriated by cooperativism, so that it can influence their development, prioritising solutions and functionalities that are suited to its socio-economic model of self-management and self-government, without being subject to technologies dictated by the capitalist technological model and commercial enterprises’ development priorities.
When cooperatives develop or commission technological development with a free licence, they reap a double benefit: first, they do not have to start from scratch, as they can reuse many developments that have already been made with free licences; and, second, they allow other organisations to use it, report errors, identify features to improve it and invest in new developments, resulting in more robust technology. By guaranteeing access to the code, free technologies allow it to be studied and audited to ensure that they do not have significant vulnerabilities or hidden functionalities. The development of open free technologies in code repositories to which anyone can contribute facilitates a type of production that is very much in line with cooperative values and the 7th principle of cooperativism, concern for the community. Most established technology projects have generated communities of programmers and users that foster collaboration and distributed reciprocity.Which free licences to choose
Below we highlight some free licences for software and other types of technologies:
- Robust free licences or copyleft: these are licences that comply with the four freedoms and also require derivative works to maintain the same licence, so that the resulting technologies always remain free.
- Copyleft licences that only require the licence to be maintained when distribution takes place. For example: GPL.
- Robust licences that also require technologies that are not distributed but are provided as services (‘software as a service’ or SaS) to be distributed under the same licence. These licences are designed so that large corporations that improve free software through internet services must release the code for their improvements. For example: Affero GPL
- Permissive free licences: these are licences that comply with the four freedoms and do not require derivative works to be released under the same licence, meaning that a new, improved version of the technology can have a more restrictive licence or become proprietary software. For example: MIT, Mozilla, BSD.
Why use free technologies?
There are important reasons for cooperatives to use free technologies:
- Free technologies can be appropriate from a cooperative perspective, they do not create dependency on a single supplier, and they can be improved with the functionalities that are needed, which are not always those that commercial companies prioritise.
- Free technologies guarantee access to the code, not only to modify it, but also to know what it does. For example, they allow for a security audit to be carried out.
- The development of free technologies is usually open, in code repositories where contributions can be made, around which communities of programmers and users are generated. This form of production is in line with the principles of cooperation, collaboration and distributed reciprocity.
There are also reasons why cooperatives choose free licences when developing new software or contributing to existing software. From the cooperative’s own point of view:
- It is not necessary to start from scratch. If you develop software with a free licence, you are allowed to reuse existing software code that has a compatible licence.
- By developing open source free software, we enable other organisations to use it, so they can report bugs and identify features to improve it. They may also contribute directly to improving the code or make financial contributions to make this possible.
From the point of view of the cooperative movement as a whole:
- It positions the cooperative movement not only as a user of technology but also as a relevant player in its development, making decisions about this process through its contributions.
- Distributes technological knowledge among individuals and organisations with cooperative values, thereby gaining autonomy from commercial organisations. This also helps them to connect with other types of organisations, such as academia and research, which often contribute to these types of projects, connecting them with people who are training and with communities of programmers.
femProcomuns is a comprehensive, non-profit consumer and worker cooperative and social initiative created in 2017 with the aim of being a strategic social tool to facilitate the viability and sustainability of open initiatives, with free technology and knowledge, oriented towards the pro-commons socio-economic model. In the technological field, with SomosNube we provide ourselves and our partners with digital tools in the cloud with free software under ethical criteria; with the Open Internet of Things Network, we collaborate with local councils, organisations and The Things Network Catalunya community to deploy antennas with the LoraWAN protocol that receive data from sensors, while also working on its application; with Transitant (Transiting), we create methodologies, facilitate processes and support collective projects, some of which also have a technological component. From the outset, our commitment to free technologies has been very firm and we have also applied ethical criteria in the choice of technologies and their implementation, but we want to deepen and systematise them.
In Catalonia, there are other projects that bring together individuals and organisations to pool technologies. While at femProcomuns we do this through cooperativism, there are initiatives that do so through federative associations, such as the pioneering Pangea and SinergiaIT. There are also a significant number of worker cooperatives that provide and/or develop free technologies, such as Jamgo, bTactic, Colectic, Coopdevs, Kedu, Códec and Human CTA. And the consumer cooperatives SomConnexió and SomMobiltat have created a second-degree cooperative, SomIT, which provides and develops free technology tailored to their needs. This entire ecosystem is a strength that we have as a society, which is becoming consolidated and which makes it possible to apply these criteria. Cooperatives do not need to become dependent on multinationals that use them to extract value, accumulate profit and power. There is no need to submit, really, there is no need 🙂
. We want to focus our efforts. We are in the process of strengthening arguments around ethical technologies and deepening our criteria. We are looking for manifestos, protocols, certifications, studies… We want to share this search and its results. If you have any information that you think may be of interest to us, or if you would like to stay up to date with what we are doing in this area, please write to us at transitant@femprocomuns.coop.