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Red Hat believes that sharing is why we can build better technology faster. We believe that being able to see the code, change it, and give it back to the community allows ideas to grow. At Red Hat, we advocate for public policies that reflect those values of sharing and collaborative innovation. Our top worldwide policy issues fall into three major categories: open source, open standards, and open content.
Open Source Software is a collaborative development method for software that harnesses the power of peer review and transparency of process to develop code that is freely accessible. We develop our technology, and our corporate structure is inspired by, the open source model, utilizing an ecosystem of developers and customers all over the world to drive innovation.
As technology demands on your organization grow and budgets shrink, look to Red Hat for effective Systems Management solutions. Whether you need to automate your linux environment or deploy your applications anywhere, anytime; the right management tools can maximize the performance of your IT systems and staff. Red Hat's systems management tools were designed from the ground up to work with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss Middleware.
Red Hat does not favor mandating open source software in technology procurement as it does not reflect Red Hat's core values of freedom and choice. Rather, Red Hat advocates for government procurement policies that allow free and open source software to compete on an equal playing field with proprietary software. The European Interoperability Framework (EIF) is an excellent example of a policy which encourages the use of OSS in government when available.
Red Hat has consistently taken the position that software patents generally impede innovation in software development and that software patents are inconsistent with open source software. We are proud of our work in helping establish the Open Invention Network, supporting the Peer-to-Patent program, and developing our Patent Promise. For more information about Red Hat's stance on software patents and patent reform, click here.
An open standard is a uniform specification in a market that is available free from any licensing, royalty payments, or other restrictions, and which is implementable by multiple vendors on multiple platforms. Open standards are developed through a transparent process that is open to any interested party. Examples of open standards include HTML for web pages and ODF for editable documents.
For governments, it is particularly important that documents and data be preserved for the public good and be available in universally accessible formats. Many local, provincial, and national governments worldwide are driving the adoption of open standards to ensure that their citizens will have access to public documents for years to come.
Fostering open standards and encouraging innovation are consistent with the core values of Red Hat. An open standard offers perpetual access to data ("backward compatibility"), vendor neutrality, and reduced cost. In addition, reducing users' dependence on a single suite of applications could quicken the migration toward open source software.
Open Content is a creative work published in a format that explicitly allows copying and modifying of its information by anyone, not exclusively by a closed organization, firm or individual. Although Red Hat supports the enforcement of copyright protections, we advocate against digital rights management (DRM) technologies that prevent lawful fair use of copyrighted works, or that implement use constraints on non-copyrighted works. Examples include the placement of DRM on certain public-domain or open-licensed e-books, or DRM included in consumer electronic devices that time-shift (and apply DRM to) both copyrighted and non-copyrighted works.
Red Hat supports the principle of copyleft, by which an author may give every person who receives a copy of a work permission to reproduce, adapt or distribute the work as long as any resulting copies or adaptations are also bound by the same copyleft licensing scheme. Examples of copyleft licenses for creative works include ShareAlike licenses available through Creative Commons.
Finally, Red Hat supports policies that ensure net neutrality, because we believe that Internet users should be in control of the content they view and the applications they choose. Any deterrent to the growth of the Internet, such as tiered services or blocking competitors' content, would go against Red Hat's values of freedom and choice.