It's also evident that North Korea is determined to keep as much technology in-house as it can. The included antivirus software and web browser point to internal servers, and even the encryption is custom-developed (possibly to prevent foreign agencies from inserting back doors). You're not going to run Red Star just for kicks, folks.

While there are some security benefits to Red Star, the researchers ultimately believe that the software is about keeping North Koreans isolated. You don't dare modify the system to get around censorship, lest officials track you down. In that sense, the OS is a friendly reminder that open source software isn't automatically a guarantee of freedom -- it has to be written in a spirit of freedom, too.

[Image credit: Liu Xingzhe/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images]