Government Roles and Responsibilities for information typically involve such functions as collection of information, storage and preservation, organization and dissemination. It may also involve making policies and laws about these information functions by others.
A list of some more specific responsibilities is as follows:
These roles are carried out by various government agencies: CPO, OMB (sometimes referred to as new "information czar"), NTIS, DTIS, OTA, CRS (Congressional Research Service), Dept. of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs(OIRA)etc.
- To provide information
- to produce and maintain information that meets specific information needs
- to protect the privacy of personal data
- to make decisions about which information to disseminate and how to dissiminate it effectively
- to regulate communication systems
- to support libraries and schools
- to classify information related to national security
- to clarify interrelationships among stakeholders in information sector, e.g., the extent to which information is:
- a social good - Society depends on members sharing a common base of information
- a commodity - a property which can have economic value and can be owned, bought and sold
- a capital investment leading to increased productivity
- an instrument of government -- necessary for such functions, as the census, collecting taxes, catching and prosecuting criminals, protecting public health, distributing social benefits, issuing licenses, etc.
The first, fourth and fifth amendments in Bill of Rights limit the
government's ability to restrict the free flow of information and
limit its ability to collect information about citizens.
Some important
government past legislation:
- Paperwork Reducation Act of 1980, amended 1986, OMB Circular A-76 and OMB Circular A-130
- Freedom of Information Act, 1966
- NTIS created from Commerce Clearinghouse fo Sci/Tech Reports, 1970
- Privacy Act, 1974
- Copyright Law with its recent amendments
- and the like -- You can probably add more to this list
Other policy instruments:
- Standards and standard setting
- Regulations -- Federal Communication Commission, Dept. of Justice, state regulatory processes, city cable commissions
©: Evelyn Daniel,
All rights reserved.
Page revised 2/3/99.