This is a repost from: Access Info Europe. Please read and comment on this interesting report looking at both the “Open Government Data” and the “Right to Access to Information” movements inside and outside governments and focussing on their common goal: The right “Beyond Access” : the “Right to Reuse”.
Access Info Europe and the Open Knowledge Foundation, in collaboration with the Open Society Institute Information Program, are holding a public consultation on open government data and the right of access to information.
This consultation is based on a new report “Beyond Access: Open Government Data and the ‘Right to Reuse’” produced as a result of research into the open government data and access to information movements. The report identifies the practical, technical and legal challenges facing these movements. The report is based on discussions with activists about the main issues to be address in the next couple of years, questions such as whether a right of access is linked to a “right to reuse” the data received.
You can download the full report here Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.Consultation: we would like to hear your comments on the “Beyond Access” report.
- Did we miss any important initiatives?
- Are there issues we should include?
- Are you doing something you’d like us to capture in the report?
- Do you agree with our findings and recommendations?
There are two 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
Consultation closes on Monday 11 October 2010
What is open government data?
Open government data is about getting access to information held by government bodies formats that anyone can use for any purpose. To qualify as “open”, it must be possible for the data to come in formats which allows it to be freely copied, shared, combined with other material, or republished as part of websites which allow users to explore, analyze, visually represent, or comment on the material, as well as transform it into other formats.
Examples of the datasets held by governments which can, potentially, be opened up range from national statistics to budgetary information, from parliamentary records to data about the locations of schools, hospitals, crimes, or post boxes.
The open government data movement is calling for the proactive dimension of the right of access to information to be extended to raw data and entire databases.
Beyond Access – the Main Findings
Finding 1 – 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.
Finding 2 – Future transparency standards should be anticipated now, 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.
Finding 3 – There is a lack of clarity about who owns government data. Copyright, database rights and other ownership rights are restricting the right of the public to reuse government data. There is an urgent need for review of the legal framework which defines who owns government information, what the intellectual property rights of public bodies actually are, and whether the case can ever be made for selling government information to members of the public.
Finding 4 – There is an unresolved conflict between the right of access to information as an inherent part of the right to freedom of expression and the limitations placed on reuse of government data through copyright licences and charges for commercial reuse.
Finding 5 - 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.
Recommendations: The report contains a series of recommendations on how civil society, funders, governments and intergovernmnetal organisations should address these challenges.
