BORIS Johnson has fired the starting gun in London’s open government’ information revolution with today’s announcement that huge realms of secret data are about to go online. The information is being put into the new London Datastore’ website as part of the Mayor’s campaign for transparency and accountability’ at City Hall

By Mike Brooke

BORIS Johnson has pushed the button to start London’s open government’ information revolution with today’s announcement that huge realms of secret data are about to go online.

The information is being put into the new London Datastore’ website as part of the Mayor’s campaign for transparency and accountability’ at City Hall.

The Mayor was joined in today’s announcement by President Barack Obama’s chief technology officer and NASA’s chief publicist during a live web link-up at the annual Consumer Electronics conference in Las Vegas.

“The new Datastore’ will unleash facts and figures that have been languishing for far too long in the deepest recesses of City Hall,” Boris told the conference.

“Access to information should not just be the preserve of institutions and a limited elite.

“Data belongs to the people, particularly data held by the public sector. Getting hold of it should not involve a complex routine of jumping through a series of ever decreasing hoops.”

A prototype of the London Datastore is accessible from today, with the full service available from January 29.

USA Federal chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra said: “We applaud London City Hall’s advance into the frontier of open government. The London Datastore will foster greater trust in government among your citizens.”

Boris was speaking today during the Consumer Electronics US Government session which included a video-link from London to the main conference in Las Vegas.