Secret Computer Code Threatens Science: Scientific American

Modern science relies upon researchers sharing their work so that their peers can check and verify success or failure. But most scientists still don’t share one crucial piece of information — the source codes of the computer programs driving much of today’s scientific progress.

Access to source code is the only way to verify trustworthiness and truthfulness, and its the only way to foster the sharing and collaboration that computing is capable of empowering. If you’re using software from people who don’t let you see their source code, you’re using software that’s keeping secrets from you. There are few reasons to keep secrets from you - dishonesty or exploitation and profit at your expense. Do you want to be involved with those people? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=secret-computer-code-threatens-science