Coding Free Software, Coding Free States: Free Software Legislation and the Politics of Code in Peru
Anita Chan · Anthropological Quarterly · 2004
I n December 2001, a legislative proposal was introduced to the Peruvian Congress that would have mandated the use of free software on government computers.The introduction of the bill, dubbed the Law for the Use of Free Software in Government Agencies, or Proposition 1609, 1 added Peru to a growing list of countries pursuing legal measures for the adoption of free software by government.Similar measures had begun in Brazil, Argentina, France, and Mexico-and within a year, they would be joined by dozens of other nationaland local-level efforts in Germany, Spain, Italy, and Vietnam-all seeking to establish official alternatives to the use of closed, proprietary software by government.But it was Peru alone that uniquely managed to capture international public attention in the work surrounding its legislative efforts.Much of the publicity was spurred through the online circulation of a lettermediated exchange between Microsoft's General Manager in Peru-who attacked the bill as a "danger" to the nation's security and to corporate intellectual property rights-and the congressional sponsor of the bill, Congressman Edgar Villanueva, who staunchly defended its support.The letters later became the focus of a wave of international media coverage around the South American nation and its legal proposal.Unlike any other nation considering similar legis-