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Deadline For Data.gov Arrives, and Delivers

Posted by kdawson on from the set-my-data-free dept.

inKubus writes "According to a story carried by AP, as part of President Barack Obama's 'Open Government Directive,' the 24 major departments and agencies that make up the executive branch of the federal government had until Friday to release at least three 'high-value' data sets. Over 300 new data sets have been released on data.gov. There's a lot of interesting stuff on there and more to come." One of the departments required to release data is the office of the US Trade Representative. Wouldn't it be nice if they posted the ACTA negotiating drafts?

4 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. We gave US the Beatles and all we got was data.gov by theodp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    guardian.co.uk: We gave the US the Beatles and all we got back was this lousy data.gov site...

  2. Re:Wouldn't it be nice if they posted the ACTA neg by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Republicans hide the truth, Democrats just flat out lie. It always amazes me to watch each new generation hit their 20s and think 1 party is going to fix all the evil of the other... only to find out 8 years later they had the same plan all along. Tax the fuck out of you and hold onto power. They have no other goal.

  3. Re:Wouldn't it be nice if they posted the ACTA neg by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Anyone who has lived in a jurisdiction with corrupt officials will tell you that bribery occurs not because whatever you are being bribed to do is a bad idea, but because you have the power to withhold whatever the briber wants. Bribery is about power not goodness or badness of the behaviour you are being bribed to do.

    Which makes the Democrats (the Party of the People) look even worse. You're not doing the work of "the People" when you require a bribe to do your job....

    Note that this is not meant to imply that the Republicans don't take bribes. Though I don't recall a case where a Republican majority leader had to bribe his own guys to get them to vote for the Party's bill.

    Doesn't mean it doesn't happen, just that I've never heard of it.

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  4. Re:How accurate are these data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There is also the matter of state and local government data. The feds are completely transparent by comparison. Even the things that are in the public record are difficult to obtain, expensive, poorly documented, and the data is a mess etc. The "cost of reproduction" is closer to what it would cost to be transcribed on parchment by monks than it is to the cost of making a CD/DVD or FTP. At the drop of a hat they will decide that something _isn't_ public record and then it goes from difficult to impossible, although that data often sneaks out the back door and is available, even older and messier than ever. Or they decide that it has "commercial value" so they charge 10 times more than a business could afford to pay and have a workable business model around it. The state and locals just don't get it. Whole industries have been built on fed data from NASA, USGS, US Census, NOAA etc. and local businesses would benefit from better access to local data as well.