Page:Code Swaraj - Carl Malamud - Sam Pitroda.djvu/160

Code Swaraj company that claims exclusive access to Georgia law but provides that access with technically deficient software and onerous terms of use. Even public systems, such as access to U.S. federal courts, are grossly insufficient, hidden behind an expensive cash register that makes it impossible to perform simple tasks, such as downloading an entire district court to examine it for privacy violations.

I think code swaraj goes even farther than the Internet and the law though, and our fight for the liberation of technical standards is an example of that. Our world is an increasingly technical one, and it is vital that we understand how our key infrastructures operate. Standards represent common consensus on how to do things, and code swaraj says if a standard is to be meaningful, it must be available for all to read and speak. A private standard makes as much nonsense as a private law.

I remember the words of Ela Bhatt telling us that we must be aspirational in our goals. We must work for world peace even if we do not believe it will happen soon, even if we do not believe it will ever happen. We must make the effort.

Access to knowledge is also an aspirational goal. We must work for that. And, just as Hind Swaraj as a goal was coupled with broader aspirational goals about the future of India, I believe we can couple code swaraj with the quest for universal access to knowledge. If we do not have code swaraj, we will never have access to knowledge. If you do not have an open rulebook, you will never be able to democratize information. This is about the people controlling their own destiny in a democracy.

Open Government As a Mantra

I observed from afar an interesting phenomenon when Barack Obama took office. For years, my fight for government information was considered an odd one in Silicon Valley. But Obama brought in a sweeping wave of optimism in the power of technology to make government better. Senior engineers from Google and Facebook gave up lucrative jobs to come work for the White House.

The President appointed a Chief Technology Officer, and I consider all three of the people who occupied that position to be friends. Far-sighted officials such as David Ferriero were given entire agencies to run, in his case the National Archives. The Republicans ran Congress, but even they seemed to want to embrace technology, as witnessed by a liberal such as myself working