Status report on French government's roll out of open source in-house developed messaging service, Tchap (Riot Matrix)

The Tchap project created a new open source encrypted communication tool for French public agents in order to improve information dissemination and ensure the security of the French government communication network.

At present, only agents of the central administration can create an account on Tchap, but the code source of the application is available for anyone under an open source license. Gradually, its use will be extended to all members of the French administrations, including regional and local administrations. According to Jérôme Ploquin, Tchap Project Manager at the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), the French administration wanted to “deploy a messaging service which is secure and contains the professional features adapted to the work of a professional organisation or a public administration”.

The report back gives an overview of their policy context, the choice of open source, Riot Matrix itself, data security, timeline of implementation, next steps and lessons learnt.

In February 2020, the Tchap service had 80,000 users in the French public administration. The DINUM soon expects that there will be 100,000 users, with Tchap reporting between 50 and 80 new user registrations every day. Among those users, between 50% and 60% regularly use Tchap. According to the DINUM, this utilisation rate is similar to those registered with commercial messaging services.

See French government launches in-house developed messaging service, Tchap | Joinup

#technology #opensource #instantmessaging #france #government

INTRODUCTION

The Tchap project created a new open source encrypted communication tool for French public agents in order to improve information dissemination and ensure the security of the French government communication network.

source https://gadgeteer.co.za/status-report-french-governments-roll-out-open-source-house-developed-messaging-service-tchap-riot