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U.S.: Who Really Owns That Government Data? |
| Source: |
fcw.com |
| Source Date: |
Tuesday, September 16, 2014 |
| Focus: |
ICT for MDGs
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| Country: |
United States |
| Created: |
Sep 23, 2014 |
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By the end of the month, data collected on federal stimulus spending over the past five years will disappear from public view -- not because the website, which always had an expiration date, will be gone, but because the government doesn't own the data.
Dun & Bradstreet does.
The Recovery.gov website tracks federal spending under the 2009 economic stimulus law through the unique identifier system called DUNS. But that license expires at the end of the month, and the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which monitors the spending, is not renewing it.
So come Sept. 30, Dun & Bradstreet is taking its data and going home.
And while this is a prominent example of what can happen when private companies own government data -- the Washington Post highlighted the story last week -- it's hardly the only one. Critics say it points to a larger problem that is almost certain to happen again unless steps are taken to change the system.
By May 9, 2015, the Office of Management and Budget and the Treasury must come up with government-wide standards for tracking federal spending data, under the Data Accountability and Transparency Act.
Establishing those standards will provide an opportunity to decide whether to continue using DUNS, some other outside system, or to bring control of the data in-house.
"It's a much bigger question of where will data get housed and how will that work," said Nancy DiPaolo, chief of congressional and intergovernmental affairs at the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. "A website is a living thing and some of it involves licenses.... We have to ask ourselves as a contemporary society, how will modern government adapt?"
She also noted that with the way technology is evolving, government "needs to weigh the possible consequences of long term agreements or non-open sources as they make laws and decisions."
"We are a real-life example of what can happen when government uses proprietary data sets," DiPaolo said. "Since it's come to light now, people may find different ways to do this in the future."
Hudson Hollister, executive director of the Data Transparency Coalition and an early proponent of the DATA Act, said while sticking with the DUNS system may save time and headaches because employees won't have to learn a new system, less expensive and more transparent alternatives exist.
(By Colby Hochmuth)
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U.S.: Who Really Owns That Government Data? By the end of the month data collected on federal stimulus spending over the past five years will disappear from public view -- not because the website which always had an expiration date will be gone but because the government doesn't own the data
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