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Re: Hypothetical question - Open Data as legistation

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Tracey P. Lauriault
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Re: Hypothetical question - Open Data as legistation

Tracey P. Lauriault
Kent;
 
Mary Beth is asking an important question that is beyond the scope of my knowledge.  Would you be able to help her out?  MB, I have also sent this to the civicaccess list as someone there might have some insight.  If something pops up I'll forward it along!
 
Cheers
t

On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 12:35 AM, Mary Beth Baker <[hidden email]> wrote:
Tracey,

If we wanted Open Data to be part of municipal legislation, is it right that we'd have to amend the Access to information laws at the provincial level? For Ontario, this piece of legislation: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90m56_e.htm#BK58 Or am I wrong? I couldn't find anything that excludes records being given out in electronic format, but I also couldn't find anything that says if it's electronic share it electronically.

I was reviewing the following articles about San Francisco's work to legislate Open Data and started thinking about Ottawa's context:

Apologies if I've misinterpreted or naively misunderstood Canada's context. You knowledge is always appreciated, I still have much to learn.

Hope to see you tomorrow afternoon,
Mary Beth



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Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
 
Mark Weiler-2
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Re: Hypothetical question - Open Data as legistation

Mark Weiler-2
Mary Beth,

Is the idea a sort of Freedom of Data Sets Legislation? Ontario's existing Municipal FOIPOP Act may be broad enough to get a very interesting discussion going.  The MFOIPOP Act currently grants a right to "records" ("Every person has a right of access to a record or a part of a record in the custody or under the control of an institution") and I believe raw data sets may already fall within the scope of "records"; certainly at the federal level I've ordered cvs exports of a DB through the ATI Act.  The federal Access to Information Act already has a clause that allows the applicant to specify the format of the received records (sec 4.(2.1)), so there's an example to follow.  

An interesting discussion would be about broadening FOI laws to clarify how it can further accommodate people who want access to electronic datasets.

Mark

From: Tracey P. Lauriault <[hidden email]>
To: Mary Beth Baker <[hidden email]>
Cc: [hidden email]; Kent Mewhort <[hidden email]>; civicaccess discuss <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2012 9:39:34 PM
Subject: Re: [CivicAccess-discuss] Hypothetical question - Open Data as legistation

Kent;
 
Mary Beth is asking an important question that is beyond the scope of my knowledge.  Would you be able to help her out?  MB, I have also sent this to the civicaccess list as someone there might have some insight.  If something pops up I'll forward it along!
 
Cheers
t

On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 12:35 AM, Mary Beth Baker <[hidden email]> wrote:
Tracey,

If we wanted Open Data to be part of municipal legislation, is it right that we'd have to amend the Access to information laws at the provincial level? For Ontario, this piece of legislation: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90m56_e.htm#BK58 Or am I wrong? I couldn't find anything that excludes records being given out in electronic format, but I also couldn't find anything that says if it's electronic share it electronically.

I was reviewing the following articles about San Francisco's work to legislate Open Data and started thinking about Ottawa's context:

Apologies if I've misinterpreted or naively misunderstood Canada's context. You knowledge is always appreciated, I still have much to learn.

Hope to see you tomorrow afternoon,
Mary Beth



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Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
 


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Kent Mewhort
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Re: Hypothetical question - Open Data as legistation

Kent Mewhort
In reply to this post by Tracey P. Lauriault
Mary Beth, which provisions specifically do you think might need amending?

In general, ATI laws are a separate regime from open data and apply only to a person making a specific request for information, not to a government department choosing itself to release data.

For example, in the federal ATIA, the right to a record is to a person "on request" (s. 4(1)). This is repeated throughout the Act: for example, all the exemptions apply to refusing "any record requested under this Act".

The Ontario FIPPA isn't as clear on constraining the provisions to an individual requestor, but most of the same principles apply.  For example, the fees due under s. 45(1) are only required from "the person who makes a request" (s. 45(1)).

With open data, there's no such requestor. Although citizens may request certain data sets, it's the government itself who decides to release the data -- and it releases it to the public at large, not to the person who asked for the data.

Kent

On 30/03/12 12:39 AM, Tracey P. Lauriault wrote:
Kent;
 
Mary Beth is asking an important question that is beyond the scope of my knowledge.  Would you be able to help her out?  MB, I have also sent this to the civicaccess list as someone there might have some insight.  If something pops up I'll forward it along!
 
Cheers
t

On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 12:35 AM, Mary Beth Baker <[hidden email]> wrote:
Tracey,

If we wanted Open Data to be part of municipal legislation, is it right that we'd have to amend the Access to information laws at the provincial level? For Ontario, this piece of legislation: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90m56_e.htm#BK58 Or am I wrong? I couldn't find anything that excludes records being given out in electronic format, but I also couldn't find anything that says if it's electronic share it electronically.

I was reviewing the following articles about San Francisco's work to legislate Open Data and started thinking about Ottawa's context:

Apologies if I've misinterpreted or naively misunderstood Canada's context. You knowledge is always appreciated, I still have much to learn.

Hope to see you tomorrow afternoon,
Mary Beth



--
Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
 



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