Legal challenges face the burgeoning efforts to make government data more available, according to a draft report by Access Info Europe and the Open Knowledge Foundation.
The 97-page report comprehensively surveys the accelerating “open data” movement and describes related weaknesses in existing right to know laws.
Supporters of better access to information laws and activists on open data need to develop closer ties and an integrated agenda, according to the report, titled “Beyond Access: Open Government Data and the ‘Right to Reuse.’ ” It assesses the state of both movements, citing many examples, and comments on future directions.
The report makes five major findings and offers dozens of recommendations.
Five Key Findings
The findings identify a variety of impediments to getting government data, including narrowly drafted laws and copyright controls asserted by governments.
The first finding states: “There are serious shortcomings in the current international and national standards defining the scope of the right of access to information, resulting in the release of information in formats that cannot be reused. ” Many laws “do not yet encompass a right of access to full databases, to raw datasets, and to information in electronic, machine-processable, and non-proprietary formats.”
“Future transparency standards should be anticipated now,” according to the second finding, “both to reduce technical obstacles to releasing the information down the line, and from a policy perspective to harness the full democratic potential of government data.”
Governments need to ensure that information is collected, ordered, and stored in formats which make it discoverable and easy to release in real time, the report says.
The third finding expresses concern that “government bodies around the world are still asserting intellectual property rights and ownership rights over the information they produce.” There is “an urgent need for review of the legal framework which defines who owns government information,” the report states.
The fourth point draws attention to limitations placed on reuse of government data through copyright licenses and charges for commercial reuse.
The fifth finding states, “The access to information and open government data movements are not yet collaborating sufficiently closely and are therefore missing opportunities to advance the transparency agenda.” The report expresses concern “that members of these movements do not talk the same language: open government data experts are not familiar with the law-based approach of access to information advocates, while the technical terminology employed by the civic hackers is baffling for the human rights activists.”
Numerous draft recommendations are developed around these themes.
Comments requested
The two groups, in collaboration with the Open Society Institute Information Program, are holding a public consultation, with an Oct. 11 deadline.
The authors ask whether they missed any important initiatives, if other issues should be addressed, as well as for opinions on the recommendations.
There are three ways to make comments:
1. Fill in our questionnaire on the report by clicking here.
2. Make comments on the individual paragraphs at WritetoReply.org/beyondaccess
3. Write to beyond@access-info.org
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