Most organizations (specially govt) have little or no clue about API's, but there are online services like Feedity - http://feedity.com - which can be used to build RSS feeds for govt website (or any webpage for that matter) and deliver updates to the public.

If this is the only thing that happens I would be content. I wish I could've put all 10 here.

I completely support improved transparency in our federal government. I am pushing this agenda through a non-partisan political community I founded - http://www.freedomspeaks.com. I would like to see transparency carried through to all levels of government - federal, state and local. I am also creating a non-profit org to establish standards how government information is both saved and exchanged.

I agree, following the path started by Sunlight and change-congress.org sounds like a great idea. The people need to know how their government is operating if they are to support it and it is our greatest weapon against the power of money.

This is a great idea. The great government cloud. www.strikeIron.com has created APIs for a lot of this data, including census, tax rates, financial data, etc... There's a long way to go but they are off to a good start.

If the information presented on public government sites are organised and easily accessible through updated standards, it would be much easier for us to search for data such as legal information.

However, privacy information about individuals should also be secured and not open.

Protecting individual data privacy while pursuing this project will be extremely complicated. It should focus on areas with negligible amounts of private data.

If this is of interest to you, also please consider http://obamacto.uservoice.com/pages/general/suggestions/69637

It is important to note that defacto standards like those created then repetitively and intentionally encumbered by MSFT are not Open Standards.

Check out what Show us a Better Way is up to on opening gvt data in the UK http://www.showusabetterway.co.uk/call/data.html

The same innovation needs to be applied to healthcare.

Thanks for putting up the site! Congrats that you have the imagination and ability to act so quickly.

I worry that Open Government Data would open up opportunities for fraud and privacy violation.

I notice that many ideas are getting added to this list. Those who voted when there were only a few ideas might want to come back and consider spreading out their votes.

The Sunlight Foundation is doing good work here, but they have to put in extra effort because the systems aren't designed to work together. They're essentially a charity-funded group making up for a lack of externally-facing data infrastructure. Transparency and more civic engagement would be big wins with an open system.