A Sunlight FOIA request has turned into effective policy: The Obama administration now instructs all agencies to illuminate not just public datasets, but private assets as well. It ensures the public will have the fullest knowledge of agency data holdings.
Continue readingAfter Sunlight FOIA, comprehensive data indexes arrive on Data.gov
Sunlight has already identified indicators of varying levels of success in indexing government information, some datasets that appear to be wisely withheld and datasets that could be of significant public value if released.
Continue readingA big win for open government: Sunlight gets U.S. to release indexes of federal data
For the first time, the United States government has agreed to release what we believe to be the largest index of government data in the world.
Continue readingEnterprise data inventories should be open — not hidden from the public
The Sunlight Foundation has spent a lot of time talking about the need for governments to create comprehensive lists of their information holdings — and to release those lists to the public. You can expect more of the same in 2015.
Continue readingSunlight’s review of federal open data catalogs (Hint: It’s not so great)
We at Sunlight are conducting a broad audit of agencies' sometimes-faithful attempts to comply with President Obama's open data executive order. Our findings so far are good, bad and perplexing.
Continue readingWhere do we stand on open government plans?
As we found in July, a few agencies have still neglected to submit open government plans. But most agencies have, which gets us to the fun part — assessing their value.
Continue readingAgencies fail to deliver a plan to deliver the data
Eight of the 29 federal executive branch agencies that are required to publish Open Government Plans in compliance with the president's Open Government Directive to have yet to do so.
Continue readingDATA Act signed into law (after C.O.B on Friday)
On Friday evening, while most of Washington was starting their weekend, President Obama quietly signed the DATA Act into law.
Continue readingSenate Committee Marks Up DATA Act, Clearing Way For Further Action
Yesterday morning, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs considered and passed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) on a voice vote. The original legislation, introduced by Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Mark Warner (D-VA), was replaced by an amendment in the nature of a substitute co-introduced by a number of committee members, including Senator Portman, and passed unanimously.
The amended legislation retains the soul of the original bill, which aims to standardize and open federal spending data, while making some concerning changes. Specifically, the Senate's new version scraps strong accountability mechanisms in an effort to keep costs down and fails to solve some governance problems that have long limited accurate federal spending data.
How Unique is the New U.S. Open Data Policy?
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