"Technology has certainly made putting arcane data online easier in recent years. But the real push for transparency has come from the scandals that often breed in opaque government.....Yes, most of the data are boring,... [b]ut journalists and think-tanks should have them, to browse and crunch and snoop. Freedom of information laws already do allow the press and the public to demand specific information. But the process is too cumbersome to hold governments to account." (The Economist)