Amanda Brock is CEO of OpenUK the UK body for the business of Open Technology (open source software, open hardware and open data); Executive Producer of State of Open Con; elected Board Member, Open Source Initiative; appointed member of the Cabinet Office Open Standards; British Computer Society Inaugural Influence Board Member; Advisory Board Member, KDE, Planet Crust, Everseen, and Mimoto; Charity Trustee Creative Crieff and GeekZone; and European Representative of the Open Invention Network. Previously chaired the United Nations Technology Innovation Labs Open Source and IP Advisory Group and was a member of the OASIS Open Projects and Government Energy Sector Digitalization Task Force Advisory Boards.
Amanda is the editor of Open Source Law, Policy and Practice (2nd edition) published by Oxford University Press in October 2022, with open access thanks to the Vietsch Foundation. A lawyer of 25 years’ experience, Amanda previously chaired the Open Source and IP Advisory Group of the United Nations Technology Innovation Labs, sat on the OASIS Open Projects and UK Government Energy Sector Digitalization Task Force Advisory Boards, and was General Counsel of Canonical for 5 years.
With law degrees from the University of Glasgow, New York University and Queen Mary and Westfield, Amanda was part of the first cohort to study internet law in the UK. Amanda spent 25 years practicing law and almost 20 of those across companies in a variety of sectors, with a strong technology focus. The first lawyer to work on the ISP Freeserve from 1999 and a member of the team which took it to Europe’s first dotcom IPO. Amanda joined Canonical as General Counsel setting up and running the global legal team for 5 years from 2008.
An international keynote speaker, Amanda writes regularly for the technology press, and is Editor of Open Source, Law, Policy and Practise, being published open access (sponsored by Vietsch Foundation) by Oxford University Press in September 2022 and which will be the subject of a MOOC.
Amanda was awarded the 2022 UK Lifetime Achievement Award in the Women, Influence & Power Awards, and included in Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Women in Tech Long list in 2021 and in their UK Tech50 longlist for 2022.
Amanda was included in the 2022 https://heroes.
How will you contribute to the board
The trajectory of open source software as the pre-eminent model for software development globally in the last decade must imho be managed though supporting the OSI and its guardianship of the OSD, whilst supporting open source adoption across ever increasing new sectors. I am concerned that a lack of care, understanding and education in the nuances of open source software poses a threat to the future of the OSD and OSI. A strong OSI is critical to the longevity of open source software.
In my experience the OSD has been under challenge firstly in the operating system market, cloud computing, and now in standards. Standards utilising FRAND licensed patents require an understanding of incompatibilities between Standard Essential Patents and open source software. This is currently a concern in the Mobile Network Operator space where vested interests and preservation of royalty revenues is causing challenges to the meaning of open source, looking to adapt it to suit existing financial and revenue generation models.
I hope to help the OSI to meet the challenges of existing and new markets’ adoption of open source software and open source’s disruptive impact on those sectors’ revenue models by supporting a strong OSI and guardianship of the OSD.
Open source software needs to be seen to be maintained and secure as it increasingly forms the backbone of national infrastructure as well as the soul of digitalised businesses. I believe that this requires a consideration of its position as a public good and how it will be funded in the long term, including on a collaborative international Governmental basis. I hope to support this evolution and the OSI’s participation in this.
Why you should be elected
I have a unique mix of practical, business, fundraising and legal and governance skills in open source software, alongside an understanding of community, which I would bring to the OSI Board. I would emphasise skills development, sustainability and security, which are critical to the future of open source software as well as supporting the OSI in its guardianship of the OSD. From my experiences as CEO at OpenUK I can offer support to the OSI Executive Director.
As a passionate believer in open source software I have and will continue to raise my neck above the parapet to support the work of the OSI.
I believe that my breadth of skills in open source software is unique amongst the individual candidates for the OSI board and am grateful for any support you may give me in these elections.