> Public Money, Public Code

This seems like a very good principle to adhere to in general. Anything that is funded by the public needs to serve the public interest, in my opinion.

Putting public money into e.g. proprietary software and proprietary services that are then operated and gated by a few selected companies, for profit, with their only goal being the rent seeking via long term government contracts, is in my opinion far from being in the public's best interest.