Fedora Linux declared “digital public good”

Fedora Linux has been recognized as a “digital public good†by the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA), a strategic group set up by UNICEF to promote sustainable development through open source solutions that contribute to a fair world.

Reasons for Fedora to be recognized include that Fedora:

• promotes best practices and adheres to standards
• creates an innovative platform for hardware, clouds and containers that enables software developers and community members to create tailor-made solutions for their users
• is free and comes with permissions to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense and / or sell copies of the software without any restriction other than that the same permissions must be granted to anyone using the resulting products
• adhere to confidentiality and other applicable international and national laws
• shares personal information in a limited and recognized manner
• do no harm
• follows the guidelines of the privacy policy and makes the privacy policy available to partners

DPGA also notes that Fedora is actively used in 483 countries.

To be recognized by the DPGA as a “public good”, a product or project must use:

• Open source software
• Open data
• Open AI models
• Open standards
• Open content

A public good must respect privacy laws, other relevant laws and best practices. It must also support and promote the United Nations sustainable development goals.

DPGA recognition is not just for operating systems. Other areas of interest include early reading, financial inclusion, health, and climate change adaptation, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. DPGA maintains Communities of Practice, which are groups of experts that support the discovery, assessment and advancement of digital public goods that meet critical needs.

Why Fedora?

Open source is not just code that can be shared, but a boost for innovation and collaboration around the world. In this way, Fedora is following in the footsteps of many efforts to create a fairer world, according to DPGA.

As a longtime Linux user and advocate, I am very happy to see one of the best Linux distros honored in this way. I am also happy to learn of the existence of the DPGA and its efforts to promote a more equitable and sustainable world.

For more information on digital public goods and nominees, visit the DPGA Register.