Open Source -Vulnerability of Coders’ Rights

The Vulnerability of Coders’ Rights

Open source has thrown open the gates to the massive digital world. The entire world has started functioning on the internet with many organizations and companies, be it in the private sector or public sector. The internet contains information about several things. You need to find out about anything, just punch the required keywords and you get the answer. Even highly sensitive information can be found there. Being the open source model you can access anything at anytime you want.

Several legal encryption coders and researchers help to maintain a safer digital environment in an open source model. Through innovation and research they secure the software and programs we use regularly. They also take the responsibility of safeguarding the highly sensitive security information from the malicious hackers. However, most of them face legal challenges in their work which usually inhibits their powers. Laws like Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, cyber crime laws etc. are the ones who challenge.

In the open source model has many security coders and program researchers undertake the process of ‘vulnerability reporting’. This is a process in which the coders publish unauthorized sensitive information about the security vulnerabilities of any organization. There has always been a debate on whether this should be a legalized process and whether the coder should be penalized for it. It is important to note that the customer has every right to know about his choices and if his private information is secure or not. The organizations are responsible for these customers and therefore must be answerable for their customer’s security. Therefore in the open source programs it is imperative that the coder is to point out the vulnerability and develop more efficient solutions to fix it.

Though a disadvantage of open source programming that the vulnerability if published can give malicious coders/attackers the chance to exploit the information. They can easily pick out the security hole in a computer or system and cause vicious harm. Publication of sensitive truth materials is protected under several International Laws, the First Amendment of United States Constitution. According to the laws a researcher found in possession of software illegally will be punished. Software is protected by copyright laws and any infringement is punishable. Both patent law and copyright law restrict the security researchers from publically disclosing information without the permission of the concerned organization. If the researcher goes ahead(even when his aim is to show the flaws of the system) he will be legally punished.

It is important to note that several companies misuse the fore-mentioned laws to silence the security researchers and coders. These laws are abused to conceal the sensitive flaws in the systems. To safeguard the interests of the security code developers and researchers and the overall open source model, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has come up with the Coder’s Rights Project. This is aimed at providing security to those cod developers who are obstructed by the misuse of cyber and computer laws. This project has been undertaken to guide the developers and researchers in understanding the legal risks associated with their work and how they can be safeguarded. Open source model has done a lot for the digital world’s expansion. However, it is our duty to ensure that the domain is never abused or exploited to create troubles.