{"id":367467,"date":"2026-02-05T10:51:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T09:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcloud.com\/?p=367467"},"modified":"2026-02-19T09:56:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T08:56:45","slug":"nextcloud-recognized-as-a-digital-public-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcloud.com\/it\/blog\/nextcloud-recognized-as-a-digital-public-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Nextcloud recognized as a Digital Public Good"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nextcloud is joining a list of renowned digital solutions, including Mozilla, Creative Commons, and PeerTube, with its recognition as a digital public good by the Digital Public Good Alliance (DPGA). This milestone highlights our commitment to open source and online privacy, and grants opportunities to spread the word on the importance of open standards for digital tools.<\/p>\n\n\n

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What is a Digital Public Good (DPG)?<\/h3>\n
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According to the UN Secretary General\u2019s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, digital public goods include open-source software, open standards, open data, open AI systems, and open content collections.<\/p>\n

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To qualify as a Digital Public Good, a project must meet the Digital Public Goods Standard: a set of specifications and guidelines designed to determine whether a digital solution genuinely serves the public interest.<\/p>\n

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In practice, this means digital public goods must follow best practices around privacy, security, and sustainability, avoid causing harm, and meaningfully contribute to the United Nations\u2019 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\n\n\n

What is the Digital Public Goods Alliance?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the slogan \u201cUnlocking the potential of open-source technologies for a more equitable world\u201d, the DPGA supports the attainment, discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods. The multi-stakeholder initiative is endorsed by the UN Secretary-General and supports a wide range of organizations that want to advance digital public goods worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These goods have to meet a set of standards, as defined in the Digital Public Goods Standard<\/a>: an open project open to contribution on GitHub<\/a>, and developed in collaboration with organizations and experts. To be more specific, these are the nine requirements as set out by the DPGA to determine if software, data, AI systems, and\/or content collections can be considered a DPG:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Be relevant to the UN\u2019s Sustainable Development Goals<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Use approved open licenses: For open source software, only OSI-approved licenses are accepted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Have clear ownership<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Be platform independent<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Publish documentation of the source code, use cases, and\/or functional requirements<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Enable data extraction: non-PII data must be exportable in non-proprietary formats<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Adhere to privacy and applicable laws<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Adhere to standards & best practices<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Be designed to do no harm, including demonstrating how it ensures data privacy and security if data is collected, having policies to identify inappropriate and illegal content, and having a process for users and contributors to protect themselves against grief, abuse, and harassment if interaction with users and contributors is possible.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    With its DPGA membership, which will be re-evaluated every year, Nextcloud has proven that it meets all nine indicators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Other Nextcloud initiatives for digital freedom and sustainability<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Nextcloud\u2019s recognition as Digital Public Good is in line with other initiatives showing our dedication to values such as sustainability, an inclusive open source community, and digital sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n