Release to One, Release to All

A ‘release to one, release to all’ federal initiative pilot program will be rolled out in the next 6 months by a handful of federal agencies. Under the initiative any member of the public will presumably have access to the result of almost any FOIA request to the participating agencies.

A few journalists have expressed concern over the idea, some in fear investigative stories will be harder to write, others concerned that the public will now have access to a every single FOIA they file.

Some journalists suggested a small head start for the original FOIA requester would be fair.

This line of thinking doesn’t resonate well with the premise of open data. Especially open crime data.

However, this thinking is similar to what is happening with crime data and crime mapping vendors.

Crime mapping vendors across the country are regularly granted access to a more up-to-date crime data feed than the public.

In Durham, NC the vendor gets a more up-to-date feed than the Durham Open Data portal. Minneapolis updated their data feed today, however since March the vendor was getting an up to date feed and the Minneapolis Open Data portal was left without any updates. This happens in many other cities across the US. *7/23 edit: Minneapolis updated their open data feed the day this post was published, however, the feed hasn't been updated since while the vendor is still getting up-to-date access to data.

Can these cities claim openness if preferential access is given? Like the reporters, the vendors have monetary motivation to want the information delayed to the public. It is neither acting in the spirit of openness or remotely fair if an agency gives preferential access to public information. If your city is giving better or more up to date access to crime data (or any public data set for that matter) you should be concerned.

Read more about the Release to one, Release to all initiative here.