Open Data Policy Guidelines » Guideline 10

Remove restrictions for accessing information

Truly open access includes the right to reuse government information (explored in Provision 11) with no technical restrictions (such as registration requirements, access fees and usage limitations, among others). Whether these technical restrictions have been specifically put in place (i.e., access fees) or are the accidental result of the choice of data format or software (i.e., usage limits or copyright restrictions), it is appropriate for an open data policy to address and remove these barriers to access. The ultimate goal should be to be to provide broad, non-discriminatory, free access to data so that any person can access information at any time without having to identify him/herself or provide any justification for doing so. Both open data policies and the Terms of Use (or Terms of Service) associated with government data should maximize the accessibility and use cases for data. While a disclaimer of warranties can be added to limit government liability, this mandate should pose no further restrictions, such as by limiting who or for what purposes the data be used.

Further reading:

Examples of language for this guideline:

Here are examples of the language for this guideline as included in policies on this site. Please note that the selections of text below are imperfect, and you should check out their source policies to read them in context.