You think Google has the goods on you? Think about the information the Federal government has. And slowly but surely, they’re making this information available to the joy of daring entrepreneurs, and ideally, the betterment of us all.
In 2008, BrightScope was looking to help the 60 million Americans currently managing $4 trillion dollars worth of retirement accounts by letting you instantly compare your account with the rest of the population in terms of fees and returns, in order to make better investment vehicle choices. And since every employer is required to provide the government with this investment information, after a lot prodding, the Department of Labor finally made this electronic data available to them.
That was 2 years ago. Today, Data.gov is live and running, with 47 government data sets and counting available to data mining entrepreneurs.Using this information to create mobile apps. Health care data for researchers to try and track down new causalities. Educational statistics to determine learning factors. Local government budget information to help bring transparency and accountability to the system. The Fed is slowly becoming open. And that means they’re open for business as well.