We have so far been fortunate that most people intuitively grasp the value of technology-driven openness and transparency, and as a result, an impressive range of NGOs and governments around the world are building on the basic understanding that “Sunlight is the best disinfectant” (Justice Brandeis’ aphorism that gave the Sunlight Foundation its name). For example, as of this writing, 58 countries have signed onto the Open Government Partnership.

But the quick-to-grasp nature of transparency’s potential has its dangers: 1) that we cease asking questions about it because it has become an article of faith; and 2) that, as strong advocates for the cause, we begin to oversell its potential (and thus undermine its genuine contributions).

This year, we are kicking off an attempt to both clarify and test our understandings of what transparency can do. Thanks to support from Google.org, we at Sunlight are embarking on a research project to evaluate the impacts of technology-driven transparency policies around the world. We plan to conduct a series of case studies.

Tonight, President Obama will deliver the State of the Union Address to Congress. He is expected to urge the Legislative branch to take action on guns, immigration, climate change and a laundry list of other issues. In order to make progress on the major questions of the day, the President will have to negotiate and compromise with Congress. But, that doesn't mean he can't make progress through other means.

A few weeks ago, the Advisory Committee on Transparency heard three ideas that President Obama could consider implementing right away to make the Executive branch more open and transparent. Read on for the videos.

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• President Obama had a mixed record on transparency and accountability issues during his first four years, according to a number of experts and watchdogs. The President set a high bar in the dawning days of his administration that he did not always reach. (ProPublica)
• Haiti recently held the first hackathon ever created by and for Haitians. The event drew students,  an international team of technologists, and a members of a women's group that works with survivors of gender-based violence. (Tech President)
• A government study on the Political Intelligence industry that was authorized by the STOCK Act is due out by April 4th. Some fear that the report might lead to legislation regulating the industry. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has already expressed interest in introducing a bill. (The Hill)
• The Project on Government Oversight outlines the revolving door between the SEC and industry in a new report that looks at disclosure statements filed between 2001 and 2010. During that time more than 400 former SEC employees filed nearly 2,000 statements indicating their intent to contact the SEC. (Government Executive, POGO)
• A recent report by the National Academy of Public Administration urges the GPO to "reboot" for the digital age. According to the report, the GPO needs to focus on matters critical to digital publishing including formats, metadata, authentication, cataloging, public access, and more. (Fierce Government)
• A new draft of data protection legislation being considered in Europe includes language taken directly from American and European corporations. The language was discovered by a LobbyPlag, a watchdog project that looks for connections between legislative language and proposals pushed by interest groups. (ArsTechnica)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• Bangladesh is reportedly planning to take some advice from a visiting Congressional delegation that suggested hiring lobbyists to get better results in Washington. (Washington Post)
• In the wake of their 2012 election loss, Republicans are trying to learn some lessons to ensure that they put their technology and data to the best possible use in the future. (Tech President)
• This weekend's massive snow storm gave citizens in New York City a chance to try out some interesting civic technology. PlowNYC tracks salt and plowing operations throughout the city. (Tech President)
• The Tea Party has made the latest move in its budding war with Karl Rove. The Tea Party Patriots, one of the most prominent groups, launched a new super PAC to target "'big spending' politicians of both parties". (Politico)
• Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is planning new legislation to target bad-actor contractors. According to Issa, agencies are not adequately suspending and debarring contractors who are known for unethical and wasteful behavior.(Government Executive)
• The International Anti-Corruption Academy is offering a new Master's program in Anti-Corruption Studies. The degree is aimed at professionals working in corporate compliance, internal oversight, law enforcement, investigative journalism, and more. (Wall Street Journal)

Registration for TransparencyCamp 2013 is now open, and if you purchase your tickets between now and March 1, 2013, you can get in on our early bird special: $20 for regular admission and $15 for students.

TransparencyCamp, lovingly referred to as TCamp, is a community event for those working or interested in open government, accountability, and transparency. This year’s Camp is co-hosted by the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs and will be held the weekend of May 4 - 5, 2013 at the University’s Marvin Center

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Sunlight Foundation or any employee thereof. Sunlight Foundation is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information within the guest blog.

Sean Patrick Murphy and Harlan Harris wrote this post. Sean has served as a senior scientist at Johns Hopkins University for over a decade. When not doing research, he currently advises several startups and provides general data science and learning analytics consulting for EverFi. Follow him on Twitter (@SayHiToSean) or contact him at SayHiToSean@gmail.com Harlan has a PhD in Computer Science (Machine Learning) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and post-doctoral work in Cognitive Psychology at several universities. He currently is Senior Data Scientist at Kaplan Test Prep, and co-organizes Data Science DC. Follow him on Twitter (@HarlanH).

Potential
The greater National Capital Region (i.e. the DC metro area), has always had a wealth of technical talent, waist deep in data, calling the region home. Whether launching satellites at Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt to decrypting messages at the NSA, this region is literally littered with three (or more) letter organizations -- NIH, JHU, DoD, DARPA, AOL, NIST, etc. -- working extensively with data.

Despite this intense concentration of professionals who share this common bond, these groups exist in isolated silos preventing the open dissemination of knowledge and best practices that would accelerate progress across industries. A rising tide of data-expertise would indeed raise all ships.

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• Lobbying revenues have been down for the past two years after a decade of steady growth. However, the changing nature of the influence industry has special interests relying more on public relations, grassroots organizing, mass media, and the internet. All told, influence spending up. (Washington Post)
• A group of anonymous donors in Germany are using a novel technique to promote their favored candidate. PeerBlog.de is funded by a shadowy group of businessmen and will produce content promoting the candidacy of Peer Steinbruck, a Social Democrat running to be chancellor.  (Tech President)
• The State of the Union address is the Super Bowl of politics and many lobbyists work hard to get their products mentioned. Although, just like at the super bowl, a high profile commercial can back fire. Some lobbyists to advise their clients to try to avoid being mentioned in the speech in order to maintain support among the minority.(Roll Call)
• Karl Rove's new dark money group's goal is simple. The Conservative Victory Project is hoping to fend off unelectable candidates who thrive in conservative dominated primaries only to wither and die come general election time. One potential target, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is already using Rove's specter to raise money from his conservative base.  (Politico, Politico)
• Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), who has been a vocal supporter of greater transparency in US Drone policy, pushed for more declassification in advance of the start of nomination hearings for John Brennan, who President Obama has tapped to be the next head of the CIA. (Politico)
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to make it easier for FCC commissioners to meet in secret. Currently, three or more commissioners cannot speak to each other in private, even if they are not taking any agency action. (The Hill)

• H.R. 539. The FCC Collaboration Act. To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to authorize a bipartisan majority of Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission to hold nonpublic collaborative discussions, and for other purposes.

The White House finally agreed to allow lawmakers (not the public) to see the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel memo authorizing the use of drone strikes on civilians, the New York Times reports, but as a Sunlight analysis has shown, the administration is still withholding 37% of these crucially important legal opinions from public view (that were issued from inauguration in 2009 until March 2012).

The administration is even holding on to much older opinions. 39% of OLC opinions issued between 1998 and 2012 are still being withheld from online publication, accounting for 201 of the 509 opinions issued during that time, our August 2012 analysis found.

This three minute Advisory Committee on Transparency video, featuring CREW's Jeremy Miller, explains the importance of the OLC opinions.

Secret law and good governance do not mix. While we recognize that there occasionally may be reasons that countenance against their full release, we recommend the following:

• The Office of Legal Counsel should refresh its website to indicate how many memos are issued each year. It should adopt the default of releasing all memos, not just the ones it deems “significant” (as such a distinction invites abuse and mistrust), and should do so prospectively and retrospectively.
• Where OLC cannot release an opinion in its entirety, it should release versions that are redacted as lightly as possible.
• At a minimum, the titles of opinions should be released, and if even that raises insurmountable issues, descriptions of memos should be available in their stead.

• Finally, the administration should consider bringing in a trusted reviewer from outside the executive branch who can credibly (and publicly) make recommendations about the release of additional opinions.