[okfn-za] City of Cape Town's open data policy

[Geoffrey Kilpin]

Hi Adi and Louisa,

Adi - I don't know if that is the intention but I agree it seems that an
over-cautious desire to avoid "unanticipated risks" leaves open that
possibility - it would have been far better if the time was spent setting
up concrete and objective criteria that the committee would merely
implement.

I wonder how they plan to select the "member of a relevant sector body as
co-opted by the steering committee" - it seems like a very important role
in light of these concerns.

Thank you Louisa for that information - hopefully the changes are positive.

Kind regards,
Geoff.

On Sat, Sep 27, 2014 at 2:39 PM, Adi Eyal <adi at code4sa.org> wrote:

> Thanks for that Geoff
>
> I'm disappointed that Code for South Africa's submission was ignored.
> Perhaps other submissions were also ignored.
>
> Also, it seems that the meat of what should be included in any open
> data policy will only be addressed after approval of the policy. A
> common theme across many of the public submissions was concern around
> the establishment of the steering committee who will "vet" requests
> for data to made public. The response to each of these concerns was a
> blanket response:
>
> "The relevant clauses of the policy are intended to mitigate possible
> unanticipated risks that may arise with the release of data to the
> public."
>
> It seems that this steering committee plans to act as a censorship board.
>
> In summary, only superficial comments were addressed in the approved
> policy. As it stands the policy continues to be flawed and, in my
> opinion, may actually result in less data being released to the public
> due to the requirement for data to be approved by the steering
> committee. It would be interesting to track which requests for data
> are rejected. I would urge submissions to the committee to be made
> public so as to track the criteria which the committee will use to
> accept or reject requests for data.
>
> I'm keen to hear opinions from other members of this group.
>
> Regards
> Adi
>
> On 27 September 2014 13:16, Geoffrey Kilpin <geoffreykilpin at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi Adi,
> >
> > After a bit of digging through the list of documents for the last Council
> > meeting I assume that 'C25/09/14 [ITEM 45] - ANNEXURE TO REPORT - PDF
> PAGES
> > 87-119 (83-115)' is the policy presented to Council. Clearly that isn't
> > necessarily the final version, but it is nevertheless interesting as it
> > includes responses to public comments.
> >
> > C25/09/14 [ITEM 45] - DRAFT OPEN DATA POLICY is also there - which looks
> > like minutes from a meeting where the policy was considered.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Geoff.
> >
> > On Sat, Sep 27, 2014 at 10:02 AM, Adi Eyal <adi at code4sa.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi All
> >>
> >> Has any one managed to get a copy of the final open data policy for
> >> the City of Cape Town? Apart from the press release that has been
> >> mindlessly copied and pasted by a dozen media outlets, it doesn't seem
> >> like the final (not the draft) policy has been published anywhere.
> >>
> >> Regards
> >> Adi
> >>
> >> --
> >> Adi Eyal
> >> Director
> >> Code for South Africa
> >> Promoting informed decision-making
> >>
> >> phone: +27 78 014 2469
> >> skype: adieyalcas
> >> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
> >> web: http://www.code4sa.org
> >> twitter: @soapsudtycoon
> >>
> >> For more information on how to participate in the open data community
> >> in South Africa, go to: http://www.code4sa.org/#community
> >>
> >> --
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> >
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>
>
> --
> Adi Eyal
> Director
> Code for South Africa
> Promoting informed decision-making
>
> phone: +27 78 014 2469
> skype: adieyalcas
> linkedin: http://za.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Adi/Eyal
> web: http://www.code4sa.org
> twitter: @soapsudtycoon
>
> For more information on how to participate in the open data community
> in South Africa, go to: http://www.code4sa.org/#community
>
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