Public administrations in the Italian region of Calabria should increase their use of free source software, says Emilio De Masi, regional president for the IdV party (Italia dei Valori, Italy of Values). He drafted a law to encourage the use of this type of software.

At a press conference in the city of Crotone on June 30, De Masi estimated that the use of free software in the region could save some 675 million euro. He explained that he aims to encourage public administrations in the Calabria region to use and develop free software.

The press conference was covered by many local and regional news organisations.

According to a report by the regional TV news CN24, De Masi called this type of software a strategic choice, because of its libertarian end egalitarian nature. The politician said that free software is more than a technical tool. Free software facilitates democracy, breaks down cultural barriers, overcomes limits on participation and makes innovations accessible.

The draft law cites the four freedoms given by the Free Software Foundation as defining free software. These are the freedom to run the program, the freedom to study its software, the freedom to redistribute this code and the freedom to make improvements.

Many Italian regions have adopted laws on free and open source software. "Public administrations are still collecting laws," comments Flavia Marzano of the Italian association for Open Government, a lobby group, on her blog. She called for a collective approach to get public administrations to use open source and to make available open data.

Earlier this week, a similar law on open source was adopted by the administration of the Puglia region.

More information:
Crotone Notizie news item (in Italian)
Newz IT news item (in Italian)
CN24 news item (in Italian)
Calabria Economia news item (in Italian)
Italia dei Valori announcement (in Italian)
Blog post by Flavia Marzano (in Italian)
Why Open Source misses the point of Free Software