Read Tom Young’s article entitled: ‘Public data to be more freely available: Relaxation of Crown Copyright aims to spur innovative use of public data, but e-petition plans are being scaled back ’, reporting on the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta)/Unesco Public Service Media (PSM) 2009 Conference.

In the article Tom Young comments:

“Last week, Tom Watson, the minister for digital engagement, told the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta)/Unesco Public Service Media (PSM) 2009 Conference that the government was ready to accept some of the key proposals made by the Power of Information Review, which aims to open up public sector information to businesses and individuals and improve the government’s engagement with citizens online.

The most significant step was the decision to ease the restrictions on the use of Crown Copyright material.

“They say information is power, but it is only distributed information that is truly empowering,” said Watson.

In future, anyone wanting to use public sector information for their own purposes will now be automatically granted a licence rather than having to go through an application process.

The move is intended to make it easier for people or small companies to make innovative use of information, such as MPs’ voting records, school league tables or crime data.

Outlining the steps in a speech, Watson told the PSM conference that the move would help drive innovation in the UK.

“The UK is ahead of the game internationally,” said Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus. “But there are areas of opportunity to engage citizens even more creatively.”

There is a wider social and economic value to making public information freely available, according to Jon Kingsbury, director of creative economy innovation programmes at Nesta. “It will allow people to use the data to develop new services and products in ways that we cannot foresee,” he said.”

Read the complete text of the article.

Related News

Power of Information Report