Business, Privacy and Tech Alliance Plug Open Government Data Bills on Capitol Hill

Bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate that would make government data publicly accessible by default got a push Friday when 48 business, civil society and privacy groups and tech associations and companies sent letters to Capitol Hill calling for "quick action" on the bills. The broad alliance, including Amazon, CTA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the Open, Permanent, Electronic and Necessary (Open) Government Data Act would institutionalize the government's commitment to open data, maintaining the U.S.' leadership in this area. A policy of open government data by default, it said, "would continue to grow as the government unlocks and creates new data sets" and also spur businesses and other organizations to invest in innovative tools that would harness the data. HR-5051 was introduced by Reps. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, and Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., while Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., introduced the Senate version (S-2852). Both were introduced April 26. The letters were addressed to House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and ranking member Tom Carper, D-Del.