New York City to Pass Landmark Open Data Law

The bill, which would go further than landmark legislation passed in 2010 by the City of San Francisco, is seen as key to a, "wider movement by open government advocates to remake government services in the Web 2.0 age." According to Stirland, "this law would ensure that data across all city agencies would be made public and searchable."

Although the bill will not require agencies to fully comply until 2018, "they'll have to start reporting to the mayor and the public about what data sets they do have within one and a half years after the passage of the law, and submit a compliance report within two years. The new law also says that the data is to be made available in one central location at NYC.gov, and that DoITT should actively solicit feedback from its community of users about its utility," according to Stirland.