Open Data and Open Government : Opportunities and Challenges

Open Data and Open Government : Opportunities and Challenges

This week I attended a Workshop on the need for a Global Policy on Open Data at the Internet Governance Form at Nairobi. Christopher Corbin from UK was in the Chair and my co panelists included Professor Anne Fitzegerad from Queensland University, Ms Waltraut Ritter from Knowledge Dialogues, Hongkong, and Dr Rajshree Dutta from CSDMS, India. The session was quiet lively with interesting interventions from Dorothy Gordon of Ghana, Maria Lee Hoon of IDRC and other participants from World over. The event was actively followed on the webcast and twitter thanks to the tweets of @MGPSI and @josemalonso.

The key theme of the Workshop was on the need for a Global Policy framework for Public Sector Information online. This article is about the thoughts I shared at the Workshop.

Open Government is a concept with which no well meaning democratic Government can disagree with. Open Government is all about transparency, public participation and collaboration which will bring in efficiency, reliability and accountability in delivery of public services. India has taken the policy initiative of enacting the Right to Information in 2005 which ensures that all information can be shared with people who seek them. It further calls for an obligation of the Government to disclose voluntarily information to the citizens. Section 4(1) of the RTI Act 2005 requires Government to digitize all records and make them available over a network. Accordingly, India is building an Open Data Platform (data.gov.in) which will place all information and data of the Government, except a negative list, in the public domain.

However, what needs to be understood is that Open Data Policy is more than mere technology, or a data.gov portal or just doing it for the sake of transparency. Open Data Policy has a lot to do with Governance, Social, Economic, Political and Legal Issues. The real issue is that how do we ensure that all relevant data is put in an organized for. It’s necessary to define the metadata standards to be able to link the datasets of multiple Government departments.
The benefits for an open Data policy are immense. Once data is put in an open domain on a platform, entrepreneurs, developers and innovators will have access to this data and they will be able to build mashable applications on top of this and offer useful services on mobile platform. Infact this is the most critical aspect as ultimately putting Data on an Open platform is not an end in itself. Data must lead to enabling services which will be useful for the people.

A challenge that Governments face in migrating to an Open Data platform and an Open Government policy is that there is lot of resistance from within the Government as many functionaries feel that it’s extra effort that they have to put and more importantly most functionaries do not want to let go of the control over data and information that they have now. Given the potential an Open Data regime and Open Government policy has for Governance and Accountability, it is worthwhile for Governments to build in awareness and capacity building of Government functionaries from top to bottom to ensure that the implementation of the policy does not see roadblocks. It will require extensive Change Management sessions as it’s an attitudinal and mindset change, we are seeking to achieve.

On the key issue of whether the Global Policy on Public Sector Information can be built upon the OECD and the European Union policy that have been adopted by almost 50 UN Nations, I felt that it might be a bit premature. The level of development of Information Infrastructure and issues of Access and Diversity may require each country to formulate its own road map towards an Open Data Policy. There are Governance and Political issues also and while advocacy towards an Open Data policy is important, what we need to provide is a resource toolkit, knowledge repository about the best practices and metadata standards along with assessment reports on the benefits of an Open Data Policy framework, which will ultimately help more nations to embrace Open Data Policy. The toolkits and metadata standards will be critical from the point of view of integrating data across regions and countries so that applications and services work seamlessly without any borders and boundaries. There are cultural and privacy issues also which differ from nation to nation and each country will need to address them in its own way. The business modeling of sharing revenues from the applications and services developed by innovators and developers with Governments also needs to be addressed.

Another key issue is that in countries where regions and communities are yet to get access to Broadband, what use will an Open Data Portal be? This challenge can be met by first adopting a Right to Information policy which allows people to get access to all information, in electronic mode or in manual mode. The next step can be to provide all information voluntarily on an Open Data Portal and ultimately adopt an Open Government Policy framework. The next step will be to link up Data with Services which ultimately benefit citizens in getting access to better services, innovators to create new business models and revenue streams and Governments to improve Governance and bring in transparency and accountability. All this should be accompanied by extensive awareness building, training and capacity building campaigns to enable smooth transition to an Open Data regime.

INDIAN PROPOSAL FOR IGF 2.0

1. MAG identifies key policy issues
2. MAG establishes working groups around these
3. WGs develop background material on the theme
4. Feeder workshops then round table discussions
5. Inter sessional Thematic meetings
6. IGF plenary and/or more round tables
7. IGF reports on specific questions
8. IGF reports transmitted to CSTD
9. Feedback loop and interface with relevant bodies

Taxing Internet Economy

Yesterday I got a mail from Google that I have just two days to decide on renewing my storage purchase that I had done last year when I had run out of the 8 GB free storage that comes with a Gmail account. When I gave my consent for paying 200 bucks for an additional 20 GB storage for a year, I thought about the tax that should be paid on this transaction. Had I purchased physical storage, the tax would have gone to my local Government. In this case, though I am using the purchased storage in India, my taxes have actually gone to the California Government or wherever Google’s servers are. The same applies when I download apps from Apple, Android, Amazon or Blackberry. I am actually paying taxes to the US Government!!

This made me thinking that taxation of Internet Commerce are complex issues that Governments need to handle with the right policy decisions. They might appear to be small issues today, but very soon will become economically significant as the volume of transactions go up. Governments world over are looking for more resources and as economies move more and more towards electronic commerce. What is required is that Governments must figure out a way to tax it, or else lose out on the much needed revenue.

Another trend in IT these days is the move towards Cloud Computing which allows Governments and Companies to access IT resources as a Service over the Internet. One does not require to invest in the IT infrastructure, Software and Services upfront but can use from any Cloud Computing Service provider who deliver applications online that is accessed from a browser, while the software and data is stored on the servers of the Cloud Computing Service provider. Most commonly Cloud Computing Services are provided in the form of Software as a Services (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) etc.

The issue of taxation of such services provided on a Cloud Computing Model become complex as the problem remains as to where is the Cloud located. If companies are accessing Cloud Services from outside India, can the Indian Government tax it? World over, the practice is to tax it where it is used, whereas in some cases, it is taxed based on the location of the servers. In some cases, it is taxed at the place, where the office of the cloud computing provider is located. All these options result in real policy challenges for Governments to decide on taxation of cloud computing and other electronic commerce. If the cloud services are provided by operators within the country then it becomes an intra State issue to resolve. However, in cases of Cloud Computing Services being provided by transnational companies, the issues go into the realm of International law and Taxation domain.

There are no easy answers. Cloud computing is basically computing without borders. However, for governments that depend on tax revenues on goods sold within their borders, such a situation is definitely not welcome. For them, cloud-based services are similar to off-the-shelf software purchases, which are of course taxed. On the other hand, cloud computing companies claim that it amounts to providing Software as a Service which will be governed by the local laws where the cloud computing company is located or where their servers are. These locations are mostly in the US where these are non taxable. As a country, we would like to believe that since these services are being consumed in India, we do have a right to tax the. The situation compounds further in cases where Infrastructure, Platform and Storage is provided as a service on the cloud model.

In the absence of clear rules and protocols in this regard, it is likely to result in disputes and confrontations between businesses and governments world over. With the coming in of mobile Internet and people using thousands of apps which are offered today on Apple, Blackberry and Android platforms, the issues of who taxes these services and who gets them are going to become more complex.
In the United States, companies like Amazon and Apple are lobbying for laws to prevent the States from taxing them. Infact they have managed to form the Download Fairness Coalition to lobby on the issue and have enlisted the support of lawmakers across political affiliations. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, are both backing federal legislation that would regulate and limit states’ taxing authority of digital goods and services as provided over the cloud.

What we in India need is to ponder over and ensure a framework is created which addresses all national issues. On one hand we would not want to lose the tax revenues which rightfully belongs to us. At the same time, we would not like to hinder the growth of Cloud Computing as it has the potential of saving costs for Indian Companies and helping them to be leaner and more efficient. The simple answer will be to have more Indian companies offering Cloud Computing Services, but then we will come to issues of taxation and revenue sharing amongst the States, which also is a pretty complex issue.

Imagination and Innovation

Imagination and Innovation

A post on the FB page of my friend took me to this link on the techcrunch story of Apple and how its net worth is today more than that of Microsoft, HP and Dell combined. It sort of sounds unbelievable that the market cap of Apple today is close to $ 300 billion compared to $ 200 billion for Microsoft, $ 72 billion for HP and $ 30 billion for Dell. See this in the backdrop of a market cap of $ 400 billion of Microsoft ten years back when Apple was at $ 8 billion!

Last 10 years have been amazing for Apple. It has led the world with its imaginative and innovative products. In 1997, when Steve Jobs returned to “rescue” Apple, it had a market cap of just about $ 3 billion. For investors it has been a windfall. The apple stock has zoomed from about $ 5 then to about $ 326 now!! It’s a mind boggling growth story. How did this happen.
Over the last few years, Apple has launched 6 innovations that have proved to be game changers. These include the iPod, the mp3 player that began the decade of disruptive technologies. This was followed by the iTunes which allowed people to buy the music they like. Next was the iPhone, which remains the leader inspite of attempts by rival companies to come up with matching products. The AppExchange has applications for almost everything. Most of us might use only the free apps, but the kind of applications available are truly amazing. The Apple Store is another innovative way of marketing products and more than $ 2 billion worth of products have been sold through these stores. The iPad revolution has been another game changer disruptive technology which might prove to the end of the road for laptops and desktops.

When we look at Apple’s innovation model, it is apparent that it is not they just make beautiful products that work. It also integrates it with a complete business model. The example is integration of iTunes and AppExchange with the iPods, iPhones and the iPads. The approach of Apple to build platforms and hosting applications on a cloud is the way to go. It allows users to plug and play. It makes technology simple to use. Today 5 year olds can use an iPod and an iPad more easily than the XO laptop, designed by OLPC for kids!

The iCloud which has been announced by Apple will do what iTunes did to music. It should become easy to store and share pictures and documents. The ease of use and the convenient interface that Apple devices provide is unmatchable. I am sure in the next 10 years, tech companies will have to innovate if they have to match up to Apple’s story. Today the difference is market cap of Apple and Microsoft is $ 100 billion which is more than the combined worth of RIM, Nokia, eBay and Netflix or that of Amazon and Adobe combined!

Lets see how the game changes in the next 12 months. These are interesting times.

Service Parody

May like to see the parody of Robert Frost's ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’. It is in HT in Khushwant Singh's column today and makes good reading.

Whose jobs are these, don't want to know
Paid heavily each month without fail though;
Boss hasn't time for looking here,
To see on the files the dust grow.
My ballpoint pen may think it queer,
To start without an envelope near;
Between the nods and a handshake
The file progresses in minutes mere.
Boss gives his head a vigorous shake
To ask if there is any mistake;
Some part of my earnings he does reap,
We all have and eat our cake.
The chair is cosy and files in heap
But I have a family to keep;
And hours to sleep before the nation's leap
And hours to sleep before the nation's leap.

(courtsey : Ashutosh Jindal)