The first attempt at change and transparency was flight data... ???
I think when discussing Government transparency THE PEOPLE expected that transparency meant offering up info to see if any Special Interests and Government Departments might have a registry at Bed Bath and Beyond as opposed to the TOP SECRET info anyone can get from a Delta.com website.
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Newspeak from the GOV.... Defining: If transparency is to be implemented meaningfully in government, we need to agree upon a more specific definition of what it means to be transparent. Drafting a set of principles, which explain what we mean by transparent data and transparent operations, helps us to do this.
Prioritizing: Your government is looking for guidance about how to prioritize the different principles of transparency. While many decisions will not be either/or choices, some tradeoffs will be inevitable. We need to understand which buckets of principles make sense in a given context. Prioritizing demands understanding what each principle means in practice and then weighing the relative costs and benefits.
An Example: Airline On-Time Data
A concrete example may be helpful to bring this discussion to life. Consider airline on-time performance data and information on causes of flight delays provided by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics –available on Data.gov.
WE know they're trying but opening a can of worms can be a messy proposition.
It seems there are actually some data sets that show some useful, pertinent info and it is a new idea so I'm sure there will be a lot of back and forth movement of information and we should all expect, due to the bright lights, a few extra slimy worms squirming back under the rocks.
and now a word form the ACLU...
President Obama Issues Orders To Reduce Government Secrecy - Government Should Stop Suppressing Key Information, Says ACLU FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YORK – President Obama Tuesday night issued an executive order and an accompanying presidential memorandum directing executive agencies to make more information public when possible and eliminate unnecessary government secrecy. The following can be attributed to Michael German, American Civil Liberties Union National Security Policy Counsel and former FBI Agent: "We welcome President Obama's executive order and memorandum which have the potential to improve the classification system for government documents, and appreciate that the administration, in an unprecedented move, incorporated into its policies public input gained through an open meeting and weblog. Although some more comprehensive measures called for by the ACLU and others were not fully realized in the new order, it is encouraging that the president described the new order as just one step in a process toward establishing 'a more fundamental transformation of the security classification.' We look forward to continuing to work with the administration on this issue to ensure the government is properly protecting information where necessary, while ensuring public access to as much information as possible." The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project: "These documents rightly acknowledge that too much information is being kept secret, and that excessive secrecy compromises national security and undermines our democracy. We are particularly pleased that the president has eliminated a rule that gave the intelligence community the authority to veto declassification decisions made by an interagency panel. "In a next step toward improving government transparency, we hope that the administration will now reconsider its refusal to release crucial documents relating to the Bush administration's national security policies. The CIA is still withholding documents about its rendition, detention and interrogation program. The Justice Department is still withholding the legal memos that supplied the basis for the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program. The Defense Department is still withholding the interrogation directives used by special forces in Afghanistan. The suppression of these documents deprives the American public of information it needs in order to evaluate the wisdom of government policy, to hold officials accountable for their decisions and to ensure that the mistakes and abuses of the past are not repeated in the future."
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
