Open data legislation fails in Oklahoma House
An effort to get Oklahoma to develop a centralized Web site for raw data has been derailed over fears of identity theft and additional bureaucracy.
House Bill 2318, by Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, fell by a vote of 37-59 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives earlier this week. You can check out a video of the 40-minute debate on the measure here.
The bill would have provided a centralized place on the state’s Web site called data.ok.gov. State agencies could post their open data there for the public to download, much like the federal government’s data.gov site or Utah’s open data site:
data.utah.gov screenshot
The idea behind such sites is simple: spur innovation by providing bulk, open information to the public. It’s all part of the “mashup” movement that’s gaining traction worldwide. Some mashups are fairly simple, like matching a table of data with locations on a Web map. Others are more specialized and complex. The Web site ProgrammableWeb has a directory of some government-related mashups here.
Debate focuses on fear
In debating against the bill, some Oklahoma House members brought up identity theft, an issue that appears to resonate with legislators. (More on that here and here.)
Rep. John Wright, R-Broken Arrow, said he didn’t want data from his drivers license or tax returns to be public. But drivers license data is already closed under federal law. And state driving records are also closed, except for certain exceptions for insurance companies, researchers and other groups. State tax returns are not open records in Oklahoma.
Murphey said his bill applied only to information that was already covered by the state’s Open Records Act.
Still, Wright said he was worried about the integrity and accuracy of the data provided by state agencies. He expressed concerns over the “double-edged sword of openness in the area of government information” and noted the number of commercials warning against identity theft on the radio:
I’m concerned about the possibility of simple human error corrupting some of the data that could easily be corrected. … I’m concerned about the broad access of the data. The data in itself not necessarily good or bad, it’s what somebody does with the data. I don’t know where you interface with state government, but I interface with state government with my drivers license, my tax return, I guess right now the paycheck. But the information that the state has on me, I don’t necessarily think anybody should have access to that. I can’t see a legitimate lawful use of it for any other citizen of the state. There’s some data that I want the state to hold very much in confidence. You listen to the radio for an hour or two, you’ll hear an ad on identity theft. Somebody doesn’t need to get too much data on you to be able to execute that. I’m not a programmer, but you’re not far from getting data to getting access to having the backdoor into somebody’s computer system. It’s a double-edged sword about this openness. I certainly want to have the government accountable. We’re stewards of the information on the public, and I’m concerned about how we steward that information.
To me, Wright seems to be confusing the information the state keeps on him that is already closed with the broader goal of making state information that’s already public more accessible.
As someone who deals with government data for a living, I understand Wright’s concerns over inaccurate data. Rarely do I receive data without errors or omissions. But that’s also why it’s important to set up a structure whereby data can be released to the public.
Take the recent coverage of the data released from the federal government’s Recovery.gov site last year. Whatever your views over the effectiveness of the stimulus package, it was a huge effort to get the hundreds of thousands of recipients to report their stimulus funds in a consistent manner. And yes, because humans are behind every data set, there were mistakes. But because those mistakes were highlighted in numerous news articles, the government was fairly quick to make amends, proving that sunshine really is the best disinfectant:
When recipients reported in October, 2009 for February 17 – September 30, 2009, some recipients reported incorrect or invalid congressional districts. The code “ZZ” appears in place of those incorrect congressional districts.
In an e-mail this week, Murphey said he would keep trying to push for better technology in government:
I am committed to better explaining the importance of Government 2.0 to my colleagues and how it will enable the citizens to hold government responsible like never before possible. I plan on passing this legislation as soon as possible.”
–Paul
(Full disclosure: The need to establish a data.ok.gov site was something I blogged about last month. I mentioned the need for that site to Rep. Murphey at a public event in late January.)
Written by Paul Monies
Follow @pmonies
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Comments
Gosh, Mr. Monies. You’re very good at this. Do you have a blog or a twitter link I can follow you on? I’m tired of the darkness in the city myself. Have a great evening.
O! And btw; I’d love it if Senators and Representatives had to make their personal business income revealed such as their own construction or insurance businesses. And so forth. This should also support their experience and knowledge for such issues that arise…and SHOULDN’T vote on anything that enriches them. I thought that was a law, but apparently Senator Rice has brought a bill up exactly for them not to vote on anything that they have a business in! I admire that Senator Rice for that! And one other thing, is the level they are supposed to write bills that the people are voting on is supposed to be eighth grade level for the people to understand, but now I can’t find a bit of info on that again. And most bills are even a struggle for ME to understand! More like Law language than the correct level. Now I’ve went back to the history books to figure out who’s hiding what! Quivering to hear that info! Later.
[...] raw data feeds for information already available through the Open Records Act. You can read more about the arguments against the bill here, but generally speaking there were concerns again about identity theft. We feel those concerns [...]
[...] efforts to put government information online. The amendment, by Rep. Murphey, followed an earlier effort that fell short. SB 1759 now heads back to the Senate for [...]
Identity Theft is so rampant these days because it is quite easy to harvest information from someone else.”‘.
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This bill would have established a more direct line of communication and understanding between private citizens and their government.