Geopolitical Postgres

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

Postgres is a data storage tool, and as a tool it is neutral in how it is used. Tools can be used for good, for harm, and because Postgres is open source, the community doesn't even know how it is used.

My first knowledge of non-traditional uses of Postgres was in 2003 during a Postgres training. During a break, someone whispered to me that one of the attendees was from a pornographic video company, and that Postgres was very popular in that industry. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense — many database companies didn't want to do business with them, but Postgres was open source so they could use it easily.

The flexibility of Postgres to be used without restrictions didn't become apparent to me again until 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea and fermented a war in Ukraine's Donbas region. Russia was internationally sanctioned, and many technology companies stopped doing business in Russia, causing Russian companies to scramble for alternatives. In reaction Russia implemented a nation-wide effort called "import substitution" to replace imported goods and products with locally produced ones. A logical database alternative was Postgres, for the same reason it was a popular option for pornographic video companies.

Adoption of Postgres in Russia skyrocketed. Existing Russian Postgres companies were suddenly in great demand, and new companies were formed. The invasion of Ukraine in 2022 greatly increased Russian sanctions. Today, though Russian Postgres community members struggle to attend in-person conferences, there has been little impact on their community involvement.

The sanctions on Russia have triggered other countries to consider information technology self-sufficiency. Enterprises in these countries were already switching to Postgres, but the wish to have a data storage tool that that is independent of international sanctions has brought government pressure on these enterprises to speed up their migrations. China, with its often-threatened invasion of Taiwan, is particularly keen to achieve self-sufficiency. The recent implementation of U.S. tariffs further cemented the value of software self-sufficiency.

Using Postgres in frowned-up industries or to minimize international sanctions or tariffs are probably not the goals that the designers of open source intended, but they did have the concept of unrestricted use. No one can restrict your use of open source, which is a good thing — no one wants someone else deciding if their software usage is acceptable.