Direct File has been open sourced, and its creators have left government to continue working on the "future of tax filing."
    • Hirom@beehaw.org
      71·
      11 hours ago

      They’re not assholes. If this is the work of the federal gouvernment then they’re just following the law.

      A work of the United States government is defined by the United States copyright law, as “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person’s official duties”.[1] Under section 105 of the Copyright Act of 1976,[2] such works are not entitled to domestic copyright protection under U.S. law and are therefore in the public domain.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_works_by_the_federal_government_of_the_United_States

      • jagged_circle@feddit.nlEnglish
        1·
        4 hours ago

        Did they even try to get the law changed?

        That law has exemptions (eg for the USPS). If they put zero effort into asking legislators to permit the IRS to ensure that the tax payers money doesn’t just turn into a subsidy for corporations, they’re assholes.

      • jagged_circle@feddit.nlEnglish
        41·
        20 hours ago

        Because it’s a gift to corporations at the expense of taxpayers.

        It means that any company can take that code, modify it (as would be required every year per IRS tax changes), and resell it without being required to publish the source code changes.

        What many European countries are doing is requiring the government to publish code under a copyleft license. That would allow companies to also benefit from this code to make their own tools (which they could also sell), and it would require them to publish the source code of their improvements.

        Basically copyleft legally ensures collaboration. Public domain does not.

        • Cenzorrll@beehaw.org
          6·
          16 hours ago

          Eh, I wouldn’t call them assholes for that. I’m sure there’s a minefield of legal issues that could come up that is mitigated by releasing it to public domain. By the same logic, anyone can also take the code, modify it, then release their modifications with a copy left license.

  • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
    25·
    2 days ago

    It already has 4 PRs!

    “All code paid for by taxpayer dollars should be open source, available for comment, for feedback, for people to build on and for people in other agencies to replicate. It saves everyone money and it is our [taxpayers’] IP,” she said.