W. David Stephenson: Automated Data Feeds Make Smart Regulation Possible Now"The District of Columbia, long plagued by corruption, began a transparency initiative under former Mayor Anthony Williams. It shifted into high gear under Mayor Adrian Fenty, and CTO Vivek Kundra. They now publish, on a real-time basis, more than 260 different data streams of statistics as varied as violent crime, building starts, and even requests to fill potholes. All of those statistics are available for anyone to analyze and interpret, and current uses range from tracking development around the new Nationals Park to showing crime reports on a Google Map.
Equally important, District agencies use the same data feeds internally to deploy their workforces more effectively, and break down barriers to cooperation between agencies.
If the same system was applied to banking, critical statistics could flow automatically to federal regulators, while also being available to the banks' own staff -- many of whom have never had real-time data access in the past. Combined with innovative web-based tools to turn obscure data into easy-to-understand visualizations, for the first time the workforce, as well as regulators, would have the kind of real-time information that's essential in today's global economy, whether to regulate businesses or to run them.
Furthermore, if the data were automatically "scrubbed" of identifiers and any kind of information that might be a legitimately competitive concern, it might also be possible to aggregate and publish the data externally, so that the general public, media, and scholars could also subscribe to, analyze, and scrutinize the information on a real-time basis."
IFEX ::"...China's Central Propaganda Department has ordered newspaper journalists to leave the city where the company considered responsible for a nationwide milk powder poisoning scandal has its headquarters.
The IFJ has learned that the central government has escalated restrictions on reporting on the scandal by ordering journalists from at least four newspapers, including Southern Metropolis Daily, to leave Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, where milk products company Sanlu is based.
The Central Propaganda Department has also allegedly deleted articles relating to the case from websites reporting on the scandal, in which milk powder contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine is said to have caused the deaths of four babies and resulted in illness among at least 53,000 children."
Public Citizen | Congress Watch | Congress Watch - Joint Statement-Bailout TransparencyHouseSeptember 23, 2008
Any Federal Financial Industry Rescue Package Must Be Transparent
The Honorable Christopher J. Dodd
Chairman
Senate Committee on Banking,
Housing and Urban Affairs
534 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Richard Shelby
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Banking,
Housing and Urban Affairs
534 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Barney Frank
Chairman
House Financial Services Committee
2129 Rayburn House
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Spencer Bachus
Ranking Member
House Financial Services Committee
Office B-371A Rayburn House Office
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Frank, Ranking Member Bachus, Chairman Dodd and Ranking Member Shelby:
We the undersigned, as advocates for open and transparent government, strongly oppose section 2(b)(2) and section 8 of the Legislative Proposal for Treasury Authority to Purchase Mortgage-Related Assets. While we hold many different views on the causes of and remedies for the current turmoil in financial markets, we are united in the belief that the legislation confers unacceptably broad powers upon the Treasury to conduct activities without transparency and accountability to the public. As written, the proposal would make any decisions by the Secretary non-reviewable by courts or administrative agencies – a certain prescription for the very kind of opacity that has contributed to the financial policy woes we face today. Equally troubling, public contracts associated with the proposal could be created outside of existing laws normally governing such actions.
Few proposals in the 110th Congress can match this one for its impact on the American people. For the sake of democratic discourse, citizens deserve vigorous, timely, and accessible disclosure of all details surrounding any government decisions in response to financial market problems. Congress should respect this vital civil right by rejecting section 2(b)(2) and section 8 of the proposal now before you.
At a minimum, any credible solution must address one of the current crisis’ fundamental causes – corruption and other abuses of power sustained by secrecy. Otherwise, the taxpayers could end up giving $700 billion more to repeat the same disasters. Congress must prove it has learned this lesson. Any genuine solution must be grounded in transparency, with all relevant records publicly available and best practice whistleblower protection for all employees connected with the new law. Secrecy worsened this crisis, and taxpayers will not accept a law for secret solutions. What happens to our money is our business.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. If you have any questions, please contact Patrice McDermott, OpenTheGovernment.org, or Pete Sepp, National Taxpayers Union.
Sincerely,
Access Info Europe
Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington
American Association of University Professors
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression
American Civil Liberties Union
American Library Association
American Policy Center
Association of Research Libraries
Californians Aware
Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights
Citizen Outreach Project
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Common Cause
Defending Dissent Foundation
Downsize DC
Essential Information
FreedomWorks
Fund for Constitutional Government
Government Accountability Project
International Association of Whistleblowers
Liberty Coalition
Minnesota Coalition on Open Government
The Multiracial Activist
National Coalition Against Censorship
National Freedom of Information Coalition
National Taxpayers Union
National Whistleblower Center
9/11 Research Project
OMB Watch
OpenTheGovernment.org
Project on Government Oversight
Public Citizen
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Scientific Integrity Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
Semmelweis Society International
Society of Professional Journalists
Special Libraries Association
Taxpayers for Common Sense
U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation
Washington Coalition for Open Government
Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
WhyCongressCantRead.com
Woodhull Freedom Foundation
Richard A. Knee, Freelance Journalist
San Francisco, CA
Ann Garrison
San Francisco, CA
Vicki Leidner, Real Estate Agent
San Francisco, CA
Daniel Macchiarini
California
Susan Nevelow Mart, UC Hastings College of the Law (affiliation for information only)
Chad Scherr, FOI Advocate
West New York, NJ
Harrison Sheppard, Attorney
San Francisco, CA
Dr. Laurence H. Shoup
Oakland, CA
Paul Wertz, Journalist, retired
Eugene, OR
