OPEN DATA is about our country, our people, our economy, our environment. About the roads, schools, water supply and other public services. Maps, weather, statistics. Ready access to this information is the basis for effective business, an informed citizenry, and intelligent policy decisions.

OPEN DATA is about our government. Who is who in central and local government? How are we performing? Where does the money go? Transparency in government leads to more citizen engagement, and saves money by encouraging efficiency and accountability.

OPEN DATA is published on the web. That's a low-cost and fast way of getting the right information to those who care.

OPEN DATA is published with an open license that allows re-use for commercial or non-commercial purposes, free of charge. Why charge taxpayers again for data that is produced with taxpayers' money? (On the other hand, some government agencies are not entirely financed from taxes but have to recover costs by selling data products.)

OPEN DATA is in a format that enables re-use. For example, we can open an Excel file in a spreadsheet program and do our own analysis. The same table in PDF format is not open data, because we can only view or print it. Even better are non-proprietary formats endorsed by international standards organizations such as the W3C.

OPEN DATA must respect the right to privacy for citizens and elected officials. Data protection laws already place safeguards around personal information held by the state. Personal information is not open data.