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New beginnings
“One nation, undivided, with liberty and justice for all.” I remember those words well from my days as a schoolboy, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America....
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Open government data shines a light on hospital billing and health care costs
If transparency is the best disinfectant, casting sunlight upon the cost of care in hospitals across the United States will make the health care system itself healthier. The Department of Health and...
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Peixoto: Open government data’s impact depends on political agency and press...
Tiago Peixoto has published a a new law review article on the uncertain relationship between open data and accountability. In it, he considers open government, transparency, accountability, press...
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Roundup: who said what about the White House executive order on open data?
This morning, President Obama issued an historic executive order making open data the new default for releasing information in the federal government. The president announced the order on a trip to...
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Does privatizing government services require FOIA reform to sustain open...
I read an editorial on “open government” in the United Kingdom by Nick Cohen today, in which he argues that Prime Minister David Cameron is taking “Britain from daylight into darkness. Cohen connects...
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McKinsey estimates open data could add more than $3 trillion in economic value
According to a new McKinsey report, “research suggests that seven sectors alone could generate more than $3 trillion a year in additional value as a result of open data, which is already giving rise to...
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Russian Minister Nikolay Nikiforov: more open data on budgets and contracts...
Today at the World Bank, Nikolay Nikiforov, Minister of Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, answered two of my questions about providing access to data about government...
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DATA Act passes U.S. House of Representatives, 388-1
One of the most important bills for open government in the U.S. since the Freedom of Information Act of 1967 has passed the House. Now, attention goes back to the Senate. In September, House Majority...
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What is the value of open data?
This morning, the New America Foundation hosted a forum on the value of open data. Archived video of the event is embedded below: Video streaming by Ustream The event featured comments from deputy...
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What’s next for net neutrality? Reclassification or a tiered Internet?
“I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality, because once providers start to privilege some applications or websites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out...
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White House e-petition system hits 15 million users, 22 million signatures...
Last week, the White House took a victory lap for a novel event in U.S. history, when a bill that had its genesis as an online petition to the United States government filed at WhiteHouse.gov became...
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US CTO Park to step down, move west to recruit for Uncle Sam
United States chief technology officer Todd Park will be moving to California at the end of August, just in time to take his kids to the first day of school. He’ll be shifting from his current...
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Chris Gates will be the new president of the Sunlight Foundation
As reported by Politico, Chris Gates will be the next president of the Sunlight Foundation, the Washington, DC-based nonprofit that advocates for open government and creates tools that empower people...
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USA to create official open source policy
Uncle Sam is getting more serious about releasing the code for software developed for the people to the people. In one of the new commitments for the second U.S. National Action Plan released today at...
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FEC hires innovative startup to help bring U.S. Senate into 21st Century
In a win for democracy & open government, the Federal Election Commission has signed a contract with Captricity to convert paper campaign contribution disclosure filings by U.S. Senators into...
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White House asks for public participation to improve draft principles for...
If a government commits to developing “best practices & metrics for public participation,” one way to demonstrate that commitment is to then post a draft version of those practices and metrics for...
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What is the return on investment for open government?
Putting a dollar value on clean water, stable markets, the quality of schooling or access to the judiciary is no easy task. Each of these elements of society, however, are to some extent related to...
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New York City crime data shows spike in NYPD response times to 911 calls
On December 29th, 2014, the New York Post reported that arrests by the New York Police Department had plummeted in New York City after a virtual work stoppage following the execution of two officers...
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White House names VMWare CIO Tony Scott new United States Chief Information...
Per Federal News Radio, the White House will name Tony Scott to be the next chief information officer (CIO) of the United States of America. Scott, currently the CIO of VMware, is a veteran of the...
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Mexico’s commitment to open government questioned by civil society
The ability of the government of Mexico to lead the Open Government Partnership is now being questioned by multiple parties, leading to one of the most serious challenges for the international...
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