I initially didn’t report this, hoping it was a sinister April Fool’s day joke, but it seems it’s legit and frankly disappointing. It seems that several US Government websites dedicated to open and easily accessible data are being shut down, a victim of budget cuts. The list so far:
- Data.gov
- Sunlight Foundation
- Federal News Radio
- USASpending.gov
- Apps.gov/now
- IT Dashboard
- PaymentAccuracy.gov
- Performance.gov
- FedSpace
- the FEDRamp Cloud Computing Cybersecurity Effort
And more. Now, several of these sites have taken their ‘open’ foundations to the next level, and begun dumping their source bases to projects like Code For America, hoping that someone independent will at least attempt to continue their efforts. Some sites have decided to take their fight right to Congress, and the Sunlight Foundation seems to be spearheading the “Save The Data” initiative, hoping to get Congress to keep these important transparency & accountability projects alive.
I’ve seen some really great stuff coming out of the Sunlight Foundation and Data.gov over the last few years, and they’re just the tip of the iceberg in what I would really like to see for Open Data in government. Let’s do what we can to keep them alive!
Hi Randall,
Thank so much for your support! Luckily, the websites Sunlight Foundation (and Fed News Radio, I bet) are not on the chopping block (and you have us listed). But, we’re very concerned about the proposed budget cuts and, as you noted, are spearheading a “Save the Data” campaign to help empower folks with ways they can speak out to protect these transparency websites.
Thanks again for drumming up attention to this problem!
Best,
Gabriela (I work at Sunlight)
I love what these data repositories do, but we need to cut TRILLIONS of dollars off our federal budget. Nothing should be off the table in terms of budget cuts.