The data we create through our online activities is regularly gathered and utilized by businesses to provide advertising services to third parties, which then promote their products or services to us. Furthermore, there are additional footprints we leave that can be collected, processed, and analyzed by anyone, including governments, for various potentially concerning purposes. With the emergence of the global free software movement, and with the introduction and dialogue concerning various regulatory initiatives on free software worldwide, particularly in the Western Balkans, there is an effort to ensure that both the public and private sectors utilize information systems and open-source computing tools, thereby safeguarding national security, fostering the protection of citizens’ constitutional rights, and promoting the technological advancement of the Nation. This paper aims to be an empirical approximation and a comparative analysis of the use of OPEN SOURCE services by public or non-public services in the region for surveillance purposes. Qualitative results reveal that the extent of the use of these techniques and the way that stakeholders use them have a great legal impact in the presence of human rights. In the end, this work will propose a human-rights-based approach as a background guideline for prevention and addressing Open Source Intelligence.