penalty for becoming less open
Government institutions may try to briefly surface their data on Data.gov to earn points on the "open data dashboard", only to later take them down. I believe this is disingenuous, and clearly goes against the spirit of the Open Government Directive. The case I'm specifically referring to is the data tracking Broadband Stimulus funding via the BIP/BTOP programs. The data available at the following link has not been ...more »
Government institutions may try to briefly surface their data on Data.gov to earn points on the "open data dashboard", only to later take them down. I believe this is disingenuous, and clearly goes against the spirit of the Open Government Directive.
The case I'm specifically referring to is the data tracking Broadband Stimulus funding via the BIP/BTOP programs. The data available at the following link has not been updated recently despite the significant public interest in the Broadband Stimulus funding: http://www.data.gov/details/1321
I e-mailed the BTOP team at NTIA to ask when an update may be posted, and they reacted by removing the dataset altogether. In their response they suggested that unstructured data was an acceptable substitute, which the community here knows is a joke. Here is the response I received via e-mail:
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From: BTOP@ntia.doc.gov
Thank you for your interest in the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). NTIA will not make available an updated version of this spreadsheet. Instead, information on grants awarded for both RUS and NTIA is available on www.broadbandusa.gov in either the Applications Database or in the lists/maps of awarded areas published by both agencies in the Information Library section. For more information, visit BroadbandUSA.gov.
Best Regards,
BTOP Team
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I unfortunately have no recourse but to complain publicly.
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