Government wants to apply fines or prison time for misuse of public sector data

The government's independent review into how the public sector can open up more data and make it available to citizens was published on Wednesday, calling for a national data strategy.
The review was announced in the Open Data white paper in June last year and was led by Stephen Shakespeare, chair of the Data Strategy Board for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
According to Shakespeare, the launch of a national data strategy is a must if the government is to continue its open data agenda. Such a strategy would recognise that public sector information is derived and paid for by the citizen and would encourage the government to release data more quickly, simultaneously improving its quality and usability.
"This is Phase II of the digital revolution. The first phase was about communication, this phase is about using increased tech capacity to do new and exciting things with data," said Shakespeare.
"Britain has a competitive advantage in that we have centralised public services that collect vast amounts of data, the value of which remains largely untapped. If we play it right we can break free of the shackles of a low-growth economy and – rather than being seen as an obstacle – government can become a key driver in this transformative process."
The report by Shakespeare suggests that government departments need to be given more trust in an open data system before it can work. This can be achieved only if the national data strategy makes maximum use of data security technologies, and if higher penalties are given to people misusing public sector information, such as fines or even imprisonment in some cases.

"I believe that with this in place we can shore up trust in the system, and help alleviate some of the fear that has been holding us back," added Shakespeare.
The review has been carried out alongside an economic assessment into the worth of an open data government strategy to the UK. According to Deloitte, the value of unlocking public sector information to the UK economy is as high as £1.8bn.
In an interview with V3, Gavin Starks, chief executive of the Open Data Institute, described the Shakespeare review as a "good step forward but it could have been bolder".
Starks took the idea of the national data strategy further and argued that the government needs to create a national, legal mandate to ensure public sector departments publish data, as well as a legal right for citizens to have access to their data. "This is the time to be bold and ambitious in order to make data more accessible," said Starks.
The Open Data Institute was founded by Nigel Shadbolt and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, after they were appointed information advisors by the previous prime minister Gordon Brown, to help transform public access to government information. The Cabinet Office has since been spearheading the open data agenda with minister of state for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude, recently calling for a shift in government mentality towards the principles of open data.