Italy – free software in Sicily

The regional assembly of the Italian island of Sicily is to consider a law encouraging the public sector to use of free and open source software, OSOR reports. The bill was presented last month by Democratic Party member Massimo Ferrara.

According to Blog Sicilia (in Italian), this is a “legislative initiative that reduces the digital divide, promotes open source in the public sector and includes a solid notion of active citizenship.”

The bill itself proposes a series of regulations on free software, access to public data and documented hardware.

The proposal is similar to a law adopted about one year ago in the Italian region of Puglia that makes the use of open source software and open standards mandatory for its public sector organisations.