Critics claim enthusiasm for transparency project, set up to create a new right to data, has worn off
One year after the Labour government launched the data.gov.uk portal, intended to provide a front door to a library of government data, there is disquiet that the initial enthusiasm has worn off and that civil servants are quietly blocking widespread release of useful information.
"Forgive me but I think this project is doomed", says one contributor to the site's debate forum, which was highlighted today on the front page of the website, which was launched to huge fanfare a year ago tomorrow by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British inventor of the world wide web.
The poster, Peter Austin, a web developer, said: "I became a member of this community nearly a year ago. I wanted to use my programming skills for the public good ?[but] I can only describe it as Yes Minister data. Harmless. Unlikely to generate controversy."
Launched by Gordon Brown, the transparency project has become a big part of the coalition government's plans: the Big Society declaration included a key line that "we will create a new 'right to data'". Downing Street pledged to "unleash a tsunami of data" on the world, which would hold the government to account - and kick-start a �6bn industry.
Since then it has published substantial datasets including all government spending over �25,000 and civil servant salaries. In June it released the Treasury's secret COINs spending database.
A Downing street source said: "In terms of the political will to make it happen we're full steam ahead. In the next two months yet more will be released on crime and government contracts.
This month every council in England has to publish spending data over �500. So far, only 200 out of about 360 councils have done so. "We might have to get the big stick out on this one," said one Downing Street source.
Professor Nigel Shadbolt, who with Berners-Lee was instrumental in getting the data.gov.uk portal set up, said: "There is a huge amount still to do. We have to change the behaviour of public servants and ministers so that they make data available without being asked."
Concerns have also been raised about the role and aims of the Public Data Corporation (PDC), a government-owned entity that will distribute data - perhaps for profit. "It just sounds Orwellian," said one involved in the open data movement, who asked not to be named.
Jonathan Raper, the chief executive of Placr, which has built a number of applications using transport data, notably from the London Datastore, warned ministers at a recent public meeting that charging for data through the PDC would be "regressive".
The Cabinet Office said: "One of our aims is to make more data free at the point of use, where this is appropriate and represents good value for taxpayers' money; and where data is charged for, we would aim to do so on a consistent basis"
Perhaps the biggest impact may be a complete rebuild of data.gov.uk, according to the Downing Street source. "It's just not as good as it should be."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/21/government-online-data-portal
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