Public goods in a modern state are a guarantee of egalitarianism, especially when all citizens can freely use them. Each modern state must manage and ensure their availability in order to maximize the benefit for each beneficiary.

But what is a public good? According to economic theory, a good is public if no citizen can be excluded from its use. The state creates and maintains some public goods – for example, the health care system and the education system – at the expense of everyone’s taxes, and the most basic ones (air, sea, etc.) are considered “natural goods” for everyone.

A public good has two main characteristics to focus on: non-competition and non-exclusion. The first implies that more than one person can use the product without interfering with the ability of others to use it. The second characteristic, relating to non-exclusivity, i.e. the impossibility of restricting the use of the product by third parties, indicates that the manufacturer or operator of the product cannot prevent its use by others. Non-exclusivity also means that users and customers cannot easily bill. Digital public goods have been referred to in the past as public goods of the 21st century. They are usually created through coordinated community initiatives regarding infrastructure (wired-wireless Internet access, computing power), software and content with the goal of universal universal access. But they can exist independently, without the support of the state and without the provision of other benefits by governments and private individuals – i.e. such as road, rail networks, etc.?

This approach involves solving a number of social problems that are more fundamental than digital access. For users of digital public goods to benefit, they will need to address a number of other issues, including large inequalities, as well as security and environmental concerns.

The recent United Nations initiative “Advancing Open Source Solutions for a Fairer World” summarizes: “Creating a fairer world requires a global effort to encourage and invest in the creation of digital public goods: open source software, open data, open models AI. , open standards and open content”. Well, digital public goods must comply with privacy laws and other applicable laws, standards and best practices without harm.

Private initiative

However, public goods can also be produced by private individuals when their purpose is not to make a profit. This is already a reality in the digital world. Non-profit international organizations or foundations, modeled after a community of individuals, support some of the most important digital public goods. Typical examples are the well-known Wikipedia, Open Street Maps and LINUX, etc. Wikipedia, in addition to being a popular online encyclopedia, is based on a collaborative model of the use of Internet resources, and its goal is to create a global encyclopedia in all languages ​​with free access for everyone. It is based on the self-organization of its volunteer editors and is currently an open source technology giant. It is run by the non-profit Wikemedia Foundation and exists entirely on donations. A similar community model is used in LINUX and Open Street Maps to display maps in all parts of the world.

* Thodoros Karunos, NTUA Researcher.
** Petros Stephaneas is an Associate Professor at NTUA.