Latin America: free-software bills and public policy, 2001–2010

Latin American public institutions pursued free software through legislation, procurement rules, training, and programs to widen access to computing. The Center for Strategic and International Studies survey records measures with different scopes and outcomes: some bills failed, some proposals remained classified as Proposed, and other policies were approved. These labels describe the survey's record. They do not describe a single regional rule, nor do they mean that every government chose the same relationship between open-source and proprietary software.

Peru: a mandatory bill and a later procurement law

Wikipedia's account of Congressman Edgar David Villanueva records his introduction of a bill to require free software in public agencies. It also records a different outcome in October 2005: a law requiring consideration of open-source software. The distinction between requiring consideration and requiring adoption is essential. The earlier proposal concerned what agencies would use; the later law concerned software options that would be considered.

The CSIS survey classified Peru's earlier mandatory bills as Failed and its Oct. 2005 entry as Advisory and Approved. Its description identifies Law 28615 as establishing a neutral technology procurement policy in central government. Read alongside the account of the free-software bill, that entry records a change in the form of the policy. It does not establish that all earlier proposals became law, or that agencies were required to use only one licensing model.

Venezuela: a requirement with an exception process

Wikipedia's adoption overview describes Decree 3390 as taking effect in 2004 and mandating a transition to open source in public agencies. The CSIS description of the decree records a requirement for public administration systems to shift to open-source software, with requests for alternative solutions directed to the Ministry of Science and Technology when open source could not be used. It also identifies research, cooperation, and education as subjects of the decree. The requirement and its exception process belong in the same account.

Different instruments and recorded outcomes

Argentina's sequence involved repeated attempts to enact a mandatory free-software bill. The CSIS descriptions say the bills expired before passage; their Failed labels must therefore accompany descriptions of what they would have required. The same survey separately records an approved advisory initiative promoting open software in public administration, with lower costs, local employment, and security given as its rationale. A legislative failure and an administrative initiative were distinct events, rather than contradictory accounts of a single action.

Local measures followed their own paths. The CSIS local-government table records an approved preference in Santa Fe Province covering its executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Its Rosario entry records a municipal mandate covering both the city government and businesses in which the city held a majority stake, with permitted alternatives when an open-source program was unavailable. These descriptions show why the level of government is part of the policy: a provincial preference and a city mandate do not automatically define the requirements of national ministries.

Brazil: federal initiatives and a public forum

The Brazil entries in the CSIS survey include encouragement for ministries to use and evaluate open software, together with a cooperative training and knowledge-dissemination initiative focused on open standards. These descriptions cover both use within government and the development of skills. Wikipedia's adoption overview also records Brazilian tax incentives for distribution of low-cost computers running Linux in 2006. These were different instruments, with different audiences, rather than a single rule governing every federal acquisition.

The Wikipedia account of the Fórum Internacional Software Livre describes a free-software event in Porto Alegre that brought together students, researchers, social movements, entrepreneurs, technology enterprises, governments, and other participants. Its debates combined technical, political, and social subjects. The forum provides context for the discussion of free software in Brazil, but an event and a government policy have different roles: participation in a discussion does not itself enact a procurement requirement.

Other country records

The CSIS survey also distinguishes an approved Costa Rican executive preference from a preference bill voted down by a legislative committee. Its Chile entries record advisory requests concerning both free software and technological neutrality. Colombia's entry described a proposal containing neutrality language, while Mexico's entries included failed mandatory legislation and advisory or research proposals. These descriptions preserve the type of institution and action involved; a resolution, executive order, bill, and feasibility study were not equivalent decisions.

The Spanish-language overview introduces software licensing, procurement, and interoperability in Spanish. The world policy survey places these records alongside measures elsewhere, while procurement on merit, preferences, and mandates explains how the different policy types affect the question being asked of a software purchase.