With regards to opinions on whether or not specific entities like Russia should be permitted to examine source code: we can also consider the Apple v. FBI case.

With regards to opinions on whether or not specific entities like Russia should be permitted to examine source code: we can also consider the Apple v. FBI case. For those who don't recall, one of the concerns was the government trying to compel Apple to make changes to iOS to permit brute forcing the San Bernardino attacker's PIN. This is a violation of First Amendment rights (compelled speech), so this drew a lot of opposition, including from people that are part of free software and open source communities. The alternative was to have the FBI make changes to the software instead of compelling Apple to do so. For those who agree with the free software philosophy, it's important to remove consideration of _who_ is trying to exercise the four freedoms. In the case of the FBI, from a free software perspective, of course they should be able to modify the software---we believe that all software should be free. (But that doesn't mean they should be able to install it on _someone else's_ device.) In this case, Russia doesn't have to ask to examine free software. And if they did, it shouldn't be a concern. Restricting who can use and examine software is a slippery slope: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/programs-must-not-limit-freedom-to-run.en.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/programs-must-not-limit-freed... But not all software is free/libre. But by extending that philosophy---there would be no _ethical_ concerns with a foreign power wanting to inspect proprietary source code. But proprietary software might have something of concern to hide: it might be something malicious like a backdoor, or it might be something like a lack of security or poor development practices.