The Sunlight Foundation submitted the following public comment on FAA docket FAA-2013-0392, in response to the FAA's Proposed Open Data Policy.
The Sunlight Foundation welcomes the opportunity to comment on the FAA's proposed Data and Information Distribution Policy. The Sunlight Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution dedicated to increasing government openness and transparency through the power of the Internet.
We are concerned that, as written, some aspects of the proposed policy may hinder public access to important FAA data, as well as potentially conflict with President Obama’s recent Executive Order, which states that "the default state of new and modernized Government information resources shall be open and machine readable."
Specifically, our comments will relate to exclusivity of data, cost recovery, and the transparency of FAA’s data release process.
Items 6 and 7 of the FAA’s proposed policy deal specifically with cost recovery. Item 6 states that the FAA will "consider cost and cost recovery in making FAA data/information available to external users." Item 7 states that the FAA will "consider requests for data and information that is not readily available if external users can and do bear the full cost of" preparing, releasing, and maintaining the data.
Additionally, item 2 of the proposed policy states that the FAA should "make electronic data/information available on a non-exclusive basis to external users, subject to the limits imposed by the need to protect national/homeland security, individual privacy, safety, confidentiality, and other government requirements."
We are concerned that the principle of non-exclusivity will be sacrificed through the FAA’s drive to recover the costs of preparing certain datasets for release. Non-exclusive data release must be considered as an integral part of any cost recovery strategy. While the two principles should be able to exist in harmony, non-exclusivity must be given priority over cost recovery if the two come into conflict.
Based on the language in item 7 that states the FAA will "consider requests for data and information that is not readily available," we see two types of data that could be subject to cost recovery. Data that the FAA already collects, but does not hold in an easily releasable format and entirely new types of data that the FAA does not yet have a process for collecting.
If the FAA is already collecting data, but does not hold it in a format that is easily shareable, its modernization and release should be considered as part of the new Executive Order. At the very least, these datasets should be publicly indexed. If the FAA engages in cost recovery to modernize these types of datasets, the sets should be made public to comply with EO 13642.
If the FAA utilizes cost recovery to start collecting entirely new datasets, the agency should proceed with data collection with eventual public release in mind. In other words, if the FAA decides to collect a given set of data, then preparing that data, maintaining it, and releasing it to the public should all be baked in from the start of the process. This will ensure that as the FAA modernizes data to make it available to outside parties, it is automatically and simultaneously made available to the public.
External investment in FAA infrastructure should never create a situation in which certain data services inside of FAA are viewed as a revenue stream for the agency, or as "belonging" to the external users that provided the original investment. Allowing such a relationship to exist would be in direct conflict with item 2 of the policy, as well as Executive Order 13642.
A policy of ongoing cost recovery could be in conflict with the Administration’s policy that "new and modernized" data should be treated with a presumption of openness and viewed as an asset for both the government and general public if datasets are not widely released once they have been collected and prepared.
Finally, the FAA's data management practices should be conducted in an open and transparent manner, as item 10 of the proposed policy states. This means that any related contracts affecting the collection and distribution of FAA data should be made publicly available via the FAA website, as they are contracts the FAA has entered into on the public's behalf.
Based on these recommendations, we suggest these changes to items 2 and 7 and 10 (our changes are emphasized in bold):
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2. Make electronic data/information available on a non-exclusive basis to external users, regardless of whether data/information is prepared through a strategy of cost recovery, subject to the limits imposed by the need to protect national/homeland security, individual privacy, safety, confidentiality, and other government requirements
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7. Consider requests for data and information that is not readily available if external users can and do bear the full cost of development, connection, transmission, processing, and maintenance. Such requests, if granted, will have any associated contracts and documents made publicly available.
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10. Apply this proposed policy requirement consistently and transparently, publicly releasing all information related to actions taken as a result of this policy via the FAA website.
As with all agencies under the Open Data executive order, all FAA datasets should be publicly audited and indexed regardless of their status as public or restricted. The public has a right to information about the data that government agencies hold. Once a dataset has been collected and prepared, it should be widely released, regardless of any cost recovery deal the FAA may have entered into with an individual or organization.
The Sunlight Foundation strongly supports the FAA submitting their Data Distribution Policy to the public for feedback and review. As a key provider of important government information, the FAA should continue to consult with the public as they fulfill their mission and the Obama administration’s commitment to making government data open, accessible, and freely available to the public.
Comments, questions, or concerns can be directed to Eric Mill or Matt Rumsey at the Sunlight Foundation. 202-742-1520.