Data.gov, other transparency sites run out of funding

Data.gov, USASpending.gov, and similar federal sites that provide data face virtual extinction because it appears that Congress will cut their collective budgets from $34m to $2m.

Budget Technopocalypse Deepens: Transparency Sites Will Go Dark In A Few Months

Daniel Schuman, March 31, 2011

Empowering people no longer?

Data.gov, USASpending.gov, and other Obama tech innovations face virtual extinction because it appears that Congress will cut their collective budgets from $34m to $2m.

We and many others are sending an open letter to congress in an effort to save these vital transparency programs.

Federal News Radio executive editor Jason Miller reports on the stakes:

One government official, who requested anonymity because they didn't get permission to discuss the topic, said funding will begin to run out on April 20 for public sites IT Dashboard, Data.gov and paymentaccuracy.gov. The source said OMB also is planning on shutting down internal government sites, including Performance.gov, FedSpace and many of the efforts related the FEDRamp cloud computing cybersecurity effort.

Read more.

Matthew Hurst writes about the looming extinction of data.gov

If this failure to invest is localised then open data will live on in other forms within the US. However, I only hope that other nations don't attempt to follow the lead.
In my experience, one of the functions of these sorts of sites is to act as governmental data aggregators. In the UK at least, the data is often distributed on other sites. The aggregation function removes the barrier to discovery. Thus, removal doesn't necessarily mean that the data itself evaporates. I'm not sure if the US situation is the same.