Reuse of the transparency-related information posted on Spanish library and archive websites

This study addresses the types of formats and ease of reuse of transparency-related information available on the websites of 53 national public libraries and 53 provincial historic archives. Further to Spain’s Transparency Act, reuse of public sector information is one of the elements comprising the right of access to information. Access and use must consequently be ensured to enable citizens and businesses to reuse all available data. The working methodology deployed here consisted in searching for, identifying and analysing the transparency-related documents carried on library and archive websites and the legal warnings governing their reuse. The findings revealed a wide variety of formats and rules governing reuse and indications of scant interest in these institutions in fostering the transparency and reuse of public information. Even when available, reusable information was normally found to be posted either separately from the data furnished by libraries and archives directly or positioned on pages or sections with complex access paths.

Datos abiertos y reutilización en el contexto de la Estrategia europea de datos

En los últimos años hemos asistido a un importante proceso de modernización tecnológica en España que ha afectado a las Administraciones Públicas. Más allá de las limitaciones en la regulación, en este proceso se percibe la importancia de los datos en general y de los datos abiertos en particular como uno de los ejes principales para reforzar las exigencias y principios del Gobierno Abierto. En esta ponencia se pretende analizar la evolución del marco normativo aplicable en España y ponerlo en relación con las recientes iniciativas que está impulsando la Unión Europea para promocionar la reutilización de la información del sector público y los datos abiertos. In the last few years we have witnessed a significant process of technological modernisation in Spain that has impacted on Public Administrations. Beyond the limitations in the regulation, in this process the importance of data and open data particularly is perceived as one of the main axes to strengthen the requirements and principles of Open Government. This lecture aims to analyse the evolution of the regulatory framework applicable in Spain and to connect it with the recent initiatives being promoted by the European Union to foster the reuse of public sector information and open data.

The Swedish People’s Awareness of The Public Sector Information Directive – a Pilot Study

This article is based on a pilot study that investigated the Swedish people’s awareness of the Swedish Public Sector Information (PSI) directive, their understanding of the difference between the PSI-directive and the Public Access Act and whether they had the prerequisite skills required for the use of the Public Sector Information (PSI). Sweden has a long tradition of readily access to official documents which could have delayed the implementation of the European PSI-directive that was enacted in 2003. Sweden implemented its Public-Sector Information (PSI) directive in 2010. The Directive focuses on the commercialization of government information to create an information market and to promote innovation. In Sweden, the PSI directive is intrinsically linked to the e-Government development policy. The study applied a literature review and interviews as data collecting techniques. Sixteen interviews were conducted with varying occupations such as students, a personnel manager, a head of a unit, a doctoral student, a pensioner, a clinical research associate, a workers’ union employee, a web designer, two archivists, a head of an archival institution, an associate professor, a receptionist, and two shoemakers. The conclusion is that there is a need to create awareness about the PSI directive, offer training, and to create an IT infrastructure and projects to promote information about the PSI to avoid a societal a digital divide. The reviewed literature confirmed that PSI usage is still concentrated in the hands of a few citizens that is, those that are already digitally empowered. The study had limitations since it based on a limited number of respondents which means that the results cannot be generalized.

Protection of and Access to Relevant Data—General Issues

This chapter discusses the protection of relevant data and issues that might block access to such data. There are at least three kinds of data, data specifically generated for the purpose of AI, big data, and copyright-protected data. Data specifically generated for AI should qualify as works worthy of copyright protection as compilations. If such data are public-sector information, measures that may facilitate the widest re-uses of public data should be taken. If such data are from the private sector, attention needs to be paid to whether these data are of critical importance and whether the use of competition law and/or ex ante regulation will be needed to ensure access. The issue of protection of big data should not be addressed in the sense of giving proprietary entitlement over big data to any entity. When looking at the private-sector components of big data, there are legal, technical and market factors working against the formation, accumulation, and free flow of big data. When looking at the public-sector components of big data, both the importance of open data and the re-use of public sector information come to the fore. Concerning the issue of accessing big data, there are barriers to its collection, storage, synthesis, analysis, and usage. However, behavioural barriers warrant special scrutiny. In that regard, competition law as an ex post remedy can be relied upon but is of limited use; therefore sector-specific regulation might be needed. As for copyright-protected data, the real issue is more about access than protection.

Protection of and Access to Data under European Law

This chapter focuses on (1) keeping data exchange infrastructures freely accessible and (2) accommodating different existing or proposed access regimes with EU copyright law, in particular with sui generis protection of databases. Accordingly, the chapter mainly focuses on access issues rather than protection. Academic contributions with regard to the latter and also on necessary limitations to protection exist in abundance. By contrast, there is comparatively little literature on the different, recently proposed sector-specific access regimes and the consistent accommodation of such future access regimes with existing IP-protection. This even concerns sectors where overlap and possible contradictions are already imminent, such as the relation of EU sui generis protection for databases with the co-existing EU regime on access to public sector information. The chapter will focus on three aspects of the recent access discussion. First, free accessibility and availability of the infrastructural framework for data access, exchange, and trade in data will be discussed. Secondly, existing copyright protection of computer programs and compilations will be analysed to further identify specific access problems and hold-up potential. Thirdly, the chapter deals with EU sui generis protection for databases which, in this author’s view, is in need of imminent reform. This section also focuses on different areas and case groups, where access rights already exist or are discussed, and will categorize these access rights from an IP perspective as a sound basis for making specific reform proposals on the contextual accommodation of such future access rights with sui generis protection for databases.