# ~SUNLIGHT**~** 

# FOUNDATION

Comments on docket number FAA-2013-0"392 submitted by The Sunlight Foundation on 7/24/2013. 

### Introduction The Sunlight Foundation welcomes the opportunity to comment on the FAA's proposed Data and Information Distribution Policy. The Sunlight Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution dedicated to increasing government openness and transparency through the powerof the Internet. We are concerned that, as written, some aspects ofthe proposed policy may hinder public access to important FAA data, as well as potentially conflictwith President Obama's recent Executive Order, which states that "the default state of new and modernized Government information resources shall be open and machine readable." 1 Specifically, ourcomments will relate to exclusivity ofdata, cost recovery, and the transparency of FAA's data release process: 

### Comments Items 6 and 7 ofthe FAA's propos.ed policy deal specifically with cost recovery. Item 6 states thatthe FAAwill "considercostandcostrecoveryin making FAA data/information available to external users." Item 7 states that the FAAwill "considerrequests fordata andinformation that is notreadilyavailable ifexternal users can anddo bearthe full costof"preparing, releasing, and maintaining the data. Additionally, item 2 ofthe proposed policy sta(es that the FAA should "make electronic data/information available on 

### a non-exclusive basis to external users, subjectto the limits imposedbythe needto protectnational/home/andsecurity, individualprivacy, safety, confidentiality, andothergovernmentrequirements." We are concerned that the principle of non-exclusivity will be sacrificed through the FAA's drive to recoverthe costs of preparing certain datasets for release. Non-exclusive data release must be considered as an integral part ofany cost recovery strategy. While the two principles should

1 Ex?cutive Orger 13642, Making Open and Machine Readable the New Defaultfor Government Information, May 9, 2013.be able to exist in harmony, non-exclusivity must be given priority over cost recovery ifthe two come into conflict. Based on the language in item 7 that states the FAAwill "considerrequests fordata and information thatis notreadilyavailable,"we see two types ofdata that could be subject to cost recovery. Data that the FAA already collects, but does not hold .in an easily releasable format and entirely new types ofdata that the FAA does notyet have a process for collecting. IftheFAA is already collecting data, but does not hold it in a format that is easily shareable, its modernization and release should be considered as part ofthe new Executive Order. Atthe very least, these datasets should be publicly indexed. Ifthe FAA engages in cost recovery to modernize these types ofdatasets, the sets should be made public to complywith EO 13642. Ifthe FAA utilizes cost recovery to start collecting entirely new datasets, the agency should proceed with data collection with eventual public release in mind. In otherwords, ifthe FAA decides to collect a given set ofdata, then preparing that data, maintaining it, and releasing it to the public should all be baked in from the start ofthe process. This will ensure that as the FAA modernizes data to make it available to outside parties, it is automatically and simultaneously made available to the public. External investment in FAA infrastructure should never create a situation in which certain data services inside of FAA are viewed as a revenue stream forthe agency, oras "belonging" to the external users that provided the original investment. Allowing such a relationship to existwould be in direct conflictwith item 2 ofthe policy, as well as Executive Order 13642. A policy ofongoing cost recovery could be in conflictwith the Administration's policy that "new and modernized" data should be treated with a presumption ofopenness and viewed as an assetfor both the government and general public ifdatasets are notwidely released once they have been collected and prepared.

I Finally, the FAA's data management practices should be conducted in an open and transparent manner, as item 10 ofthe proposed policy states. This means that any related contracts affecting the collection and distribution of FAA data should be made publicly available via the FAA website, as they are contracts the FAA has entered into on the public's behalf.

· Based on these recommendations, we suggest these changes to items 2 and 7 and 10 (our

changes are emphasized in bold): 2. Make electronic data/information available on a non-exclusive basis to external users, regardless ofwhether data/information is prepared through a strategy ofcost recovery, subjectto the limits imposed by the need to protect national/homeland security, individual privacy, safety, confidentiality, and other government requirements7. Consider requests fordata and information that is not readily available if external users can and do bearthe full cost ofdevelopment, connection, transmission, processing, and maintenance. Such requests, ifgranted, will have any associated contracts and documents made publicly available. 10. Apply this proposed policy requirement consistently and transparently, publicly releasing all information related to actions taken as a result ofthis policy via the FAAwebsite. As with all agencies underthe Open Data executive order, all FAA datasets should be publicly audited and indexed regardless oftheir status as public or restricted. Th,e public has a right to information about the data that government agencies hold. Once a dataset has been collected and prepared, it should be widely released, regardless ofany cost recovery deal the FAA may have entered into with an individual ororganization. The Sunlight Foundation strongly supports the FAA submitting·their Data Distribution Policy to the public forfeedback and review. As a key provider of important government information, the FAA should continue to consultwith the public as theyfulfill their mission and the Obama administration's commitment to making government data open, accessible, and freely available to the public. Comments, questions, or concerns can be. directed to Eric Mill or Matt Rumsey atthe Sunlight Foundation. 202-742-1520.