Tax Evasion? Greeks protests banning of open source in hospitals

Eel/lak, a Greek network of academic proponents of open source, is asking a hospital in Thessaloniki to reconsider its banning of software solutions based on free and open source software. The hospital is misreading last year's government inventory of public administration's software licences, the group says.

"This ban has no legal basis, is not based on any government decision and creates unnecessary costs for the Greek taxpayer in a particularly difficult period for the entire Greek community."

The group writes that the hospital is misreading a request from the government's Financial and Economic Crime Unit.Last year, this unit began approaching companies and public administrations, asking for an inventory of their software licences along with the corresponding invoices.

The aim of the economic crime unit is to combat tax evasion...