This does not mean that the DoD will reject using proprietary COTS products. Look at the Numbers! Typically enforcement actions are based on copyright violations, and only copyright holders can raise a copyright claim in U.S. court. Even if OSS has no cost to download, there is still a cost for OSS due to installation, support, and so on (whether done in-house or through external organizations). The Linux kernel project requires that a person proposing a change add a Signed-off-by tag, attesting that the patch, to the best of his or her knowledge, can legally be merged into the mainline and distributed under the terms of (the license).. To provide Cybersecurity tools to . At the subsequent meeting of the Inter-Allied Council . Many programs and DAAs do choose to use commercial support, and in many cases that is the best approach. No, complying with OSS licenses is much easier than proprietary licenses if you only use the software in the same way that proprietary software is normally used. The cases are too complicated to summarize here, other than to say that the GPLv2 was clearly regarded as enforceable by the courts. In many cases, weakly protective licenses are used for common libraries, while strongly protective licenses are used for applications. Contact Contracting. Problems must be fixed. As with all commercial items, the DoD must comply with the items license when using the item. The DoD has chosen to use the term open source software (OSS) in its official policy documents. Many software developers find software patents difficult to understand, making it difficult for them to determine if a given patent even applies to a given program. African nations hold Women, Peace and Security Panel at AACS 2023. Examples include GPL applications running on proprietary operating systems or wrappers, and GPL applications that use proprietary components explicitly marked as non-GPL. 923, is in 31 U.S.C. user agreement - DCMA For DoD contractors, if the standard DFARS contract clauses are used (in particular DFARS 252.227-7014) then the contractor who developed the software retains the copyright to the software and has the right to release it to others, even if the software was developed exclusively with government funds. 16th Air Force > Home - AF 1.1.4. Going through our RMF/DICAP and cannot find the Air Force Approved Software List anywhere. Choose a license that best meets your goals. Note that when government employees develop software as part of their official duties, it can be protected by copyright in other countries, but note that these can only be enforced outside the US. Estimating the Total Development Cost of a Linux Distribution estimates that the Fedora 9 Linux distribution, which contains over 5,000 software packages, represents about $10.8 billion of development effort in 2008 dollars. The following marking should be added to software source code when the government has unlimited rights due to the use of the DFARS 252.227-7014 contract: The U.S. Government has Unlimited Rights in this computer software pursuant to the clause at DFARS 252.227-7014. PDF By Order of The Commander, United U.s. Air Forces Central States Air This resource contains Facility-Related Control Systems (FRCS) guidance, reference materials, checklists and templates.The DoD has adopted the Risk Management Framework (RMF) for all Information Technology and Operational Technology networks, components and devices to include FRCS. Software licensed under the GPL can be mixed with software released under other licenses, and mixed with classified or export-controlled software, but only under conditions that do not violate any license. Q: Do choice of venue clauses automatically disqualify OSS licences? . So, while open systems/open standards are different from open source software, they are complementary and can work well together. Careful legal review is required to determine if a given license is really an open source software license. Q: When can the U.S. federal government or its contractors publicly release, as OSS, software developed with government funds? The Government has the rights to reproduce and release the item, and to authorize others to do so. In 2017, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in Artifex Software, Inc.v. Hancom, Inc., issued a ruling confirming the enforceability of the GNU General Public License. More recent decisions, such as the 1982 decision B-204326 by the U.S. Comptroller General, continue to confirm this distinction between gratuitous and voluntary service. Home page of Air Force Materiel Command Q: How does open source software work with open systems/open standards? German courts have enforced the GPL. As noted above, OSS projects have a trusted repository that only certain developers (the trusted developers) can directly modify. But what is radically different is that a user can actually make a change to the program itself (either directly, or by hiring someone to do it). Choosing between the various options - particularly between permissive, weakly protective, and strongly protective options - is perhaps the most difficult, because this selection depends on your goals, and there are many opinions on which licenses are most appropriate for different circumstances. Where it is important, examining the security posture of the supplier (e.g., their processes that reduce risk) and scanning/testing/evaluating the software may also be wise. In such licenses, if you give someone a binary of the program, you are obligated to give them the source code (perhaps upon request) under the same terms. The Apache 2.0 license is compatible with the GPL version 3 license, but not the GPL version 2 license. The Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN) Approved Products List (APL) is the single consolidated list of products that affect communication and collaboration across the DoDIN. When considering any software (OSS or proprietary), look for evidence that the risk of unlawful release is low. In nearly all cases, OSS is commercial software, so the policies regarding commercial software continue to apply to OSS. The key issue with both versions of the GPL is that, unlike most other OSS licenses, the GPL licenses require that a recipient of a binary (executable) must be able to demand and receive the source code of that program, and the recipient must also be able to propogate the work under that license. Software that meets very high reliability/security requirements, aka high assurance software, must be specially designed to meet such requirements. As a result, it is difficult to develop software and be confident that it does not violate enforceable patents. Q: How do GOTS, Proprietary COTS, and OSS COTS compare? Be sure to consider total cost of ownership (TCO), not just initial download costs. Thus, even this FAQ was developed using open source software. This has never been true, and explaining this takes little time. For software delivered under federal contracts, any choice of venue clauses in the license generally conflict with the Contract Disputes Act. 88th Air Base Wing - Wright-Patterson Air Force Base If the contractor was required to transfer copyright to the government for works produced under contract (e.g., because the FAR 52.227-17 or DFARS 252.227-7020 clauses apply to it), then the government can release the software as open source software, because the government owns the copyright. LenelS2 OnGuard and Milestone XProtect jointly added to U.S. Air Force Bruce Perens noted back in 1999, Do not write a new license if it is possible to use (a common existing license) The propagation of many different and incompatible licenses works to the detriment of Open Source software because fragments of one program cannot be used in another program with an incompatible license. Many view OSS license proliferation as a problem; Serdar Yegulalps 2008 Open Source Licensing Implosion (InformationWeek) noted that not only are there too many OSS licenses, but that the consequences for blithely creating new ones are finally becoming concrete the vast majority of open source products out there use a small handful of licenses Now that open source is becoming (gasp) a mainstream phenomenon, using one of the less-common licenses or coming up with one of your own works against you more often than not. Q: How does open source software relate to the Buy American Act? Others do not like the term GOSS, because GOSS is not actually OSS, and they believe the term can be misleading. An example of such software is Expect, which was developed and released by NIST as public domain software. There are many alternative clauses in the FAR and DFARS, and specific contracts can (and often do) have different specific agreements on who has which rights to software developed under a government contract. The Air Force will conduct its next "BRAVO" hackathon in March, and any U.S. citizen may apply. Defense Health Agency | Health.mil - Military Health System In contracts where this issue is important, you should examine the contract to find the specific definitions that are being used. Note that Creative Commons does not recommend that you use one of their licenses for software; they encourage using one of the existing OSS licenses which were designed specifically for use with software. Salesforce Government Cloud takes advantage of the same cloud-based CRM technology that has made Salesforce a household name among businesses large and small. Examples include: If you know of others who have similar needs, ask them for leads. Thus, GPLed compilers can compile classified programs (since the compilers treat the classified program as data), and a GPLed implementation of a virtual machine (VM) can execute classified software (since the VM implementation runs the software as data). This definition is essentially identical to what the DoD has been using since publication of the 16 October 2009 memorandum from the DoD CIO, Clarifying Guidance Regarding Open Source Software (OSS). Fundamentally, a standard is a specification, so an open standard is a specification that is open. Home page of Tinker Air Force Base Another useful source is the list of licenses accepted by the Google code hosting service. Notepad, PowerShell, and Excel are great alternatives. If such software includes third-party components that were not produced in performace of that contract, the contractor is generally responsible for acquiring those components with acceptable licenses that premit the government to use that software. Adobe Acrobat Reader. 2019 Approved Software Developers of Paper 2D Forms (PDF 47.33 KB) Final as of April 2, 2020. (4) Waivers for non-FDA approved medications will not be considered. A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or a combination thereof, that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods of one party from those of others.. If the government has received copyright (e.g., because the FAR 52.227-17 or DFARS 252.227-7020 clauses apply) then the government can release the software as open source software. DOD Mobile Apps Gallery - U.S. Department of Defense In contrast, typical proprietary software costs are per-seat, not per-improvement or service. This is not merely theoretical; in 2003 the Linux kernel development process resisted an attack. Carmelsoft HVAC ResLoad-J. The U.S. has granted a large number of software patents, making it difficult and costly to examine all of them. Establish project website. This list was generated on Friday, March 3, 2023, at 5:54 PM. No, the DoD does not have an official recommendation for any particular OSS product or set of products, nor a Generally Recognized as Safe/Mature list. Is it COTS? 1.1.3. There is no injunctive relief available, and there is no direct cause of action against a contractor that is infringing a patent or copyright with the authorization or consent of the Government (e.g., while performing a contract).. The real challenge is one of education - some developers incorrectly believe that just because something is free to download, it can be merged or changed without restriction. This is important for releasing OSS, because the government can release software as OSS if it has unlimited rights. https://www.disa.mil/network-services/ucco, The DoD Cyber Exchange is sponsored by The term trademark is often used to refer to both trademarks and service marks. No. Public definitions include those of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF), the Digistan definition of open standard (based on the EIF), and Bruce Perens Open Standards: Principles and Practice. In particular, it found that DoD security depends on (OSS) applications and strategies, and that a hypothetic ban would have immediate, broad, and in some cases strongly negative impacts on the ability of the DoD to analyze and protect its own networks against hostile intrusion. It is usually far better to stick to licenses that have already gone through legal review and are widely used in the commercial world. Special Series. Thus, components that have the potential to (eventually) support many users are more likely to succeed. Thus, open systems require standards that are widely-supported and consensus-based; standards that meet these (and possibly some additional conditions) may be termed open standards. Developers/reviewers need security knowledge. Spouse's information if you have one. The first meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the agency's governing body, took place on 24 July of that year. OSS and Security/Software Assurance/System Assurance/Supply Chain Risk Management. Indeed, according to Walli, Standards exist to encourage & enable multiple implementations. However, such malicious code cannot be directly inserted by just anyone into a well-established OSS project. Depending on the contract and its interpretation, contractors may be required to get governmental permission to include commercial components in their deliverables; where this applies, this would be true for OSS components as well as proprietary components. Department of the Air Force E-Publishing > Publications + Forms - AF OSS options should be evaluated in principle the same way you would evaluate any option, considering need, cost, and so on. If the project is likely to become large, or must perform filtering for public release, it may be better to establish its own website. Currently there is no APL Memo available for this Tracking Number. Prior art invalidates patents. This memo is available at, The Open Technology Development Roadmap was released by the office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Advanced Systems and Concepts, on 7 Jun 2006. Ipamorelin. For example, users of proprietary software must typically pay for a license to use a copy or copies. 000+ postings in Shaw Air Force Base, SC and other big cities in USA. It points to various studies related to market share, reliability, performance, scalability, security, and total cost of ownership. For example, the LGPL permits the covered software (usually a library) to be embedded in a larger work under many different licenses (including proprietary licenses), subject to certain conditions. Launch video (9:47) Typically, obtaining rights granted by the license can only be obtained when the requestor agrees to certain conditions. Q: Is there a risk of malicious code becoming embedded into OSS? Everything just redirects to the DISA Approved Product list which only covers hardware. To manage the acquisition, development, and integration of Cybersecurity Tools and Methods for securing the Defense Information Infrastructure. This process provides a single, consolidated list of products that have met cybersecurity and interoperation certification requirements. Air Force ROTC is offered at over 1,100 colleges and universities in the continental United States, Puerto Rico and Hawaii. A permissive license permits arbitrary use of the program, including making proprietary versions of it. OSS implementations can help create and keep open standards open. This control enhancement is based in the need for some way to update software to fix problems after they are discovered. The following questions discuss some specific cases. However, often software can be split into various components, some of which are classified and some of which are not, and it is to these unclassified portions that this text addresses. Do not use spaces when performing a product number/title search (e.g. The FAR and DFARS do not currently mandate any specific marking for software where the government has unlimited rights. The DoD already uses a wide variety of software licensed under the GPL. "Delivering a more lethal force requires the ability to evolve faster and be more adaptable . Use of the DODIN APL allows DOD Components to purchase and operate systems over all DOD network infrastructures. Example: GPL and (unrelated) proprietary applications can be running at the same time on a desktop PC. DoDIN Approved Products List. The project manager, program manager, or other comparable official determines that it is in the Governments interest to do so, such as through the expectation of future enhancements by others. Examples of the former include Red Hat, Canonical, HP Enterprise, Oracle, IBM, SourceLabs, OpenLogic, and Carahsoft. An alternative is to not include the OSS component in the deliverable, but simply depend on it, as long as that is acceptable to the government. And of course, individual OSS projects often have security review processes or methods (such as Mozillas bounty system). Open source software is also called Free software, libre software, Free/open source software (FOSS or F/OSS), and Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS). By some definitions this is technically not an open source license, because no license is needed, but such public domain software can be legally used, modified, and combined with other software without restriction. In many cases, yes, but this depends on the specific contract and circumstances. In this case, the government has the unenviable choice of (1) spending possibly large sums to switch to the new project (which would typically have a radically different interface and goals), or (2) continuing to use the government-unique custom solution, which typically becomes obsolete and leaves the U.S. systems far less capable that others (including those of U.S. adversaries). The U.S. government can often directly combine GPL and proprietary, classified, or export-controlled software into a single program arbitrarily, as long as the result is never conveyed outside the U.S. government. A GPLed program can run on top of a classified/proprietary platform when the platform is a separate System Library (as defined in GPL version 3). It states that in 1913, the Attorney General developed an opinion (30 Op. DoD Directive 5000.1 states that open systems shall be employed, where feasible, and the European Commission identifies open standards as a major policy thrust. Open source software licenses grant more rights than proprietary software licenses, but they are still conditional licenses that require the user to obey certain terms. Note that this also applies to proprietary software, which often have even stricter limits on if/how the software may be changed. If there are reviewers from many different backgrounds (e.g., different countries), this can also reduce certain risks. If it is possible to meet the conditions of all relevant licenses simultaneously, then those licenses are compatible. Do you have permission to release to the public (classification, distribution statements, export controls)? At a high-level, DoD policy requires commercial software (including OSS) to come with either a warranty or source code, so that the software can be maintained when necessary by the supplier or the government. Consider anticipated uses. Open standards also make it easier for OSS developers to create their projects, because the standard itself helps developers know what to do. BIG-IP logout page - Cyber It is impossible to completely eliminate all risks; instead, focus on reducing risks to acceptable levels. They can obtain this by receiving certain authorization clauses in their contracts. The DDR&E, Advanced Capabilities Modular Open Systems Approach web page also provides some useful background. The lack of money changing hands in open source licensing should not be presumed to mean that there is no economic consideration, however. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps, and to participating agencies in-volved with supportability analysis sum-maries and provisioning/item selection functions by, or for, Department of Defense weapons systems, equipment, publications, software and hardware, training, training devices, and support equipment. Q: What are synonyms for open source software? Thus, public domain software provides recipients all of the rights that open source software must provide. PITTSFORD, N.Y., June 8, 2021 . PDF Community College of the Air forCe - Air University Office of the Chief Software Officer, U.S Air Force Dress and Appearance - AF Open Source Software FAQ - U.S. Department Of Defense Static attacks (e.g., analyzing the code instead of its execution) can use pattern-matches against binaries - source code is not needed for them either. We also provide some thoughts concerning compliance and risk mitigation in this challenging environment. As with all commercial items, organizations must obey the terms of the commercial license, negotiate a different license if necessary, or not use the commercial item. DISA Tools Mission Statement. If the government modifies existing OSS, but fails to release those improvements back to the main OSS project, it risks: Similarly, if the government develops new software but does not release it as OSS, it risks: Clearly, classified software cannot be released back to the public as open source software. Many prefer unified diff patches, generated by diff -u or similar commands. The Department of Defense (DoD) Software Modernization Strategy was approved Feb. 1. Using a standard license simplifies collaboration and eliminates many legal analysis costs. Q: What are the major types of open source software licenses? As noted above, in software, Open Source refers to software for which the human-readable source code is available for use, study, re-use, modification, enhancement, and re-distribution by the users of such software. Font size: 0G: Zero Gravity: Rate it: 106 RQW: 106th Rescue Wing: Rate it: 121ARW: 121st Air Refueling Wing: Rate it: 129 RQW: 129th Rescue Wing: Rate it: 1TS: No.1 Transmitting Station: Rate it: 920RQG: 920th Rescue Group: Rate it: A: Air Force Training . 75th Anniversary Article. Government Off-the-Shelf (GOTS), proprietary commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), and OSS COTS are all methods to enable reuse of software across multiple projects. Thus, to reduce the risk of executing malicious code, potential users should consider the reputation of the supplier and the experience of other users, prefer software with a large number of users, and ensure that they get the real software and not an imitator. OSS-like development approaches within the government. SUBJECT: Software Products Approval Process . - The award authority will establish the maximum award nomination length (number of . Thus, if a defendant can show the plaintiff had unclean hands, the plaintiffs complaint will be dismissed or the plaintiff will be denied judgment. So if the government releases software as OSS, and a malicious developer performs actions in violation of that license, then the governments courts might choose to not enforce any of that malicious developers intellectual rights to that result. Senior leaders across DoD see bridging the tactical edge and embedding resilience to scale as key issues moving forward. There are two versions of the GPL in widespread use: version 2 and version 3. The United States Air Force operates a service called Iron Bank, which is the DoD Enterprise repository of hardened software containers, many of which are based on open source products. Q: How can I find open source software that meets my specific needs? The world's number-one enterprise cloud gives the DoD the power to capture, analyze, and retrieve important information quickly . Review really does happen. 37 African nations, US kickoff AACS 2023 in Senegal. The Air Force separated 610 Airmen for declining the once-mandated COVID-19 vaccination. Q: When a DoD contractor is developing a new system/software as a deliverable in a typical DoD contract, is it possible to use existing software licensed using the GNU General Public License (GPL)? The owner of the mark exercises control over the use of the mark; however, because the sole purpose of a certification mark is to indicate that certain standards have been met, use of the mark is by others., You dont have to register a trademark to have a trademark. The GPL and LGPL licenses specifically recommend that You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school, if any, to sign a copyright disclaimer for the program, if necessary., and point to additional information. As long as a GPL program does not embed GPL software into its outputs, a GPL program can process classified/proprietary information without question. In addition, ignoring OSS would not be lawful; U.S. law specifically requires consideration of commercial software (including extant OSS, regardless of exactly which license it uses), and specifically instructs departments to pass this requirement to consider commercial items down to contractors and their suppliers at all tiers. The IDA Open Source Migration Guidelines recommend: It also suggests that the following questions need to be addressed: It also recommends ensuring that decisions made now, even if they do not relate directly to a migration, should not further tie an Administration to proprietary file formats and protocols. Any software not listed on the Approved Software List is prohibited. When examining a specific OSS project, look for evidence that review (both by humans and tools) does take place. A choice of venue clause is a clause that states where a dispute is to be resolved (e.g., which court). Software/hardware for which the implementation, proofs of its properties, and all required tools are released under an OSS license are termed open proofs(see the open proofs website for more information). Permissive: These licenses permit the software to become proprietary (i.e., not OSS). The first-ever Oklahoma Black History Day was celebrated at the state Capitol Feb. 13 with Lt. Gen. Stacey Hawkins, Air Force Sustainment Center commander, serving as the keynote speaker for the event.Hosted by the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus, a focus of this . This includes the, Strongly Protective (aka strong copyleft): These licenses prevent the software from becoming proprietary, and instead enforce a share and share alike approach. By definition, OSS software permits arbitrary use of the software, and allows users to re-distribute the software to others. View the complete AFI 36-2903 for more details. Since OSS licenses are quite generous, the only license-violating actions a developer is likely to try is to release software under a more stringent license and those will have little effect if they cannot be enforced in court. This statute says that, An officer or employee of the United States Government or of the District of Columbia government may not accept voluntary services for either government or employ personal services exceeding that authorized by law except for emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property., The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) Office of the General Counsels Principles of Federal Appropriations Law (aka the Red Book) explains federal appropriation law.