Recovery.gov Not Very Transparent 222
Bob the Super Hamste writes "CNN is reporting that the page recovery.gov is
not as transparent as it claims to be. The examples pointed out are:
1. The user is greeted by a large pie chart that show the breakdown of money spent by 2 categories, state government distributions and local government distributions.
2. Finding projects involves a complicated search, information on projects is not actually hosted on recovery.gov
3. The format of the information available is of poor quality (the article specifically mentions a PDF document that was created from a scanned sideways copy of roadwork projects from New York state).
Given that this site was meant to make the spending of the new stimulus money more transparent to the citizens of the Unites States of America it seems oddly opaque. CNN does seem to praise the ability for government agencies to be able to exchange HTML based information between systems, which for government I would call a massive accomplishment.
I tried to find information for my state and searched for Minnesota. I got 4 matches, 2 of which were generic ones: one was the Minnesota state certification that is required for a state to receive funds and one that lays out public transportation spending for all states of which Minnesota gets $94,093,115."
The Fleecing of America (Score:4, Interesting)
US taxpayer money has *NEVER* really been tracked/reported fully and honestly. The public *NEEDS* to be aware of where their money goes. It is your money, your house, your car, your environment, YOUR GOVERNMENT and again, money.
Accounting/reporting where the money goes may be expensive - but can we afford not to?
Just please tell us where all this money is going. Be accountable for your actions. Be HONEST! The days of hiding shit are over.
Open Source Government.
well at least... (Score:5, Interesting)
...the source of the site is transparent:
http://www.recovery.gov/modules/system/system.module [recovery.gov]
Hmm they really might want to get that Drupal updated to 6.10!
Re:Better than nothing (Score:3, Interesting)
If I were president, I would put transparency, corruption, and a balanced budget at the top of the list of priorities, because those are like tar that slows everything else down. Once you actually have a balanced budget you can see clearly how many resources you have available to put towards health care, what can be sacrificed, etc. The government would run so much more smoothly. Sigh.
Re:Better than nothing (Score:3, Interesting)
The whole process is not transparent (Score:5, Interesting)
I would rather see the law making process more transparent, just look at the stimulus bill:
source: http://www.downsizedc.org/blog/hiding+the+sausage [downsizedc.org]
Re:Better than nothing (Score:1, Interesting)
It's Obama's initative, so there is an alternative (logical one too): whitehouse.gov.
.
or even better: cbo.gov, irs.gov.
Like what's going to ahppen after the recovery? Will the website still be updated?
.
Recovery.gov is pure PR.
Anyway, all the information on the site is boilerplate stuff you see on your IRS tax directions booklet. Like the pie chart--it's in the back of the booklet every year. Of course if you pay taxes and got it in the trusty USPS mail (likely!) you would know...
Re:The whole process is not transparent (Score:3, Interesting)
By trying to hide the bias, you are giving the appearance that the information isn't biased. I fact, leaving it in there is a STRONG indicator it needs to taken with a grain of salt...the size of your head.
For a moment I will assume it's accurate.
You know what? considering the time they have had and the amount of change this is, I think they did a good job.
If they are doing this crap 18 months from now they might have a point.
Of course, I am not happy with the stimulus bill. I understand there thinking, but It seems to me it's the wrong approach.
Re:Better than nothing (Score:4, Interesting)
I believe they're working on that - like a standardized format for all government documents using XML. I would have sworn there was something about that on /. a few months ago, though I could have had one too many hits from the snake.
Re:well at least... (Score:3, Interesting)
all system files are exposed, for example: http://www.recovery.gov/modules/statistics/statistics.module [recovery.gov]
either they've set permissions wrong, or their .htaccess is failing, or...
Re:well at least... (Score:3, Interesting)