(this page is part of my 2011 report on “Open Data: Emerging trends, issues and best practices”. Please follow that link to reach the Introduction and Table of Content, but don’t forget to also check the notes for readers! of the initial report of the same project, “Open Data, Open Society”)

Just because Open Data is becoming more popular (and, we may say, more and more necessary every year), it is essential to intensify efforts to explain, both to the general public and to public administrators, that

1. Privacy issues are almost always a non-issue. Quoting from What “open data” means - and what it doesn’t): Privacy and/or security concerns with putting all the government’s data out there are a separate issue that shouldn’t be confused with Open Data. Whether data should be made publicly available is where privacy concerns come into play. Once it has been determined that government data should be made public, then it should be done openly.

2. Defining as Public and consequently opening them in the right way, much more data than those born and stored inside Public Administration is an urgent task that is in the best interest of all citizens and businesses