Washington dc – Page 2 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

How Public Opinion Is Shaping Open Data in Washington, DC

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When the District of Columbia first issued terms and conditions of use for its data, transparency advocates and civic hackers made their complaints known.

Among the concerned parties was Josh Tauberer, founder of bill-tracking website GovTrack.us, who questioned if he would need a lawyer to hack in D.C. Tauberer highlighted vague and questionable terms, including one stating that website users would not encourage others to engaged in any conduct that would give rise to civil liability.

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Washington D.C. launches FOIA portal, transparency initiative

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Washington D.C.has launched a new effort to process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. A new online portal will make it possible for individuals to submit requests and have them processed online. The new portal, powered by “FOIAXpress,” is the District’s first-ever citywide FOIA processing system. Mayor Gray also issued an executive order that mandates that the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) hire a Chief Data Officer (CDO) to assist in the deployment and to help coordinate additional open data programming.

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