Developing a Knowledge Base of Regulatory Issues in the use of FS/OS Software: the experience of the European SME sector

This paper is based on the research work done under the EU-FP6 research framework by the Digital Business Ecosystems project task WP32-B11. This research work has been part of an ongoing research attempt, aiming to develop a knowledge base of regulatory issues that arise from small medium enterprises (SMEs) membership of a Digital Business Ecosystem (DBE), primarily associated with development of FS/OS Software for commercial use. The view taken was to identify trust as the main component for SME participation in the DBE, and to analyze some main areas for trust regulation: privacy, e-signatures and security, jurisdiction and consumer protection. The paper concludes with remarks regarding the potential implications of developing a knowledge base of regulatory issue in the use of FS/OS software in the European SME sector for current and future SME engagement, whereas the knowledge base of regulatory issues is still being empirically tested and populated.