The internet today feels like it’s in the grip of a few powerful figures - Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. Their platforms may look democratic and are free to use, but they run on proprietary software. This means users have little say in shaping these platforms.
In proprietary systems, users are essentially tenants, subject to the rules of platform owners. Push back too hard, and you risk being evicted - like journalist T L (Taylor Lorenz), who was banned from X after challenging Musk.
This concentrated power has driven many to explore decentralized platforms like Bluesky Social and Mastodon, sparking a revival of the open-source movement.
Open source is not a new idea. In the 1960s, amidst civil rights and anti-war movements, engineers openly shared their code. The principles were simple: software should be free to access, study, develop, and share.
This ethos paved the way for breakthroughs like the World Wide Web (thanks to Tim Berners-Lee and CERN, who made the code royalty-free in 1991) and Linux, the world’s most-used open-source operating system.
However, the 2000s marked a turning point. Proprietary software became dominant, with Bill Gates famously comparing copying software to theft. Since then, companies like Microsoft and IBM have invested billions to acquire open-source platforms like GitHub and Red Hat, centralizing tools meant to democratize tech.
Figures like Aaron Schwartz (The forgotten co-founder of Reddit, Inc.) and Edward Snowden (American-Russian whistleblower) remind us of what’s at stake. Schwartz fought to democratize knowledge and paid the ultimate price. Snowden uses open-source tools to expose government surveillance, showing how open source is about more than technology - it’s about freedom, transparency, and survival in a monitored world.
Even organizations like OpenAI, once champions of transparency, have closed their code in favor of profit. Ironically, generative AI thrives on open information but operates as a closed system.
There’s also an environmental case for open source. Unlike proprietary systems that demand constant upgrades, open source emphasizes compatibility and efficiency, reducing tech’s environmental impact.
Without open source, tech monopolies wouldn’t exist - and neither would the internet as we know it. Projects like Linux, Mozilla, and Wikipedia prove that we can still build collective tools for the public good.
It’s time to remember these roots and fight for a more open, democratic internet.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.
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