Newsletter Archive
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Take Action! NIH Data Policies and More
February 09, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreRFI of the Week: NIH Controlled-Access Data Policy and Proposed Revisions to NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy. NIH is requesting public input on its proposal to establish harmonized and transparent policy requirements for protecting human participant research data. Specifically, NIH proposes establishing policy requirements for which data should be controlled-access under NIH data sharing policies, and revising the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy to simplify and harmonize requirements.
Comments due March 18.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
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The World Factbook Was a Valuable Data Resource
February 05, 2026by Chris MarcumRead MoreYesterday, the CIA made the surprising decision to shut down the World Factbook after more than sixty years of operation. This move was not just a simple website update. By removing the site and setting up redirects that lead away from historical data, the agency effectively broke millions of links used in schools, news reports, and scientific research. The takedown also removed all historical archives of the World Factbook. The loss of this resource is a significant blow to the world of open data and public knowledge.
The World Factbook began in 1962 as a secret tool for intelligence officers but eventually became the most popular public reference for global information. Its value was rooted in the fact that it was a public domain resource. Unlike private encyclopedias, anyone could use Factbook data for free without asking for permission and it became a standard reference material in school libraries. When I was a kid, we had both print and CD-ROM versions available to use in school projects at Errol Consolidated Elementary School in New Hampshire. It provided an accessible way to look at statistics about every country on Earth, covering everything from geography, to health, to government structures. One of the coolest features was the public domain photographs and documents that CIA operatives contributed from their field operations.
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Introducing the Data Checkup: A Framework for Assessing the Health of Federal Datasets
February 04, 2026by Melanie Klein, Beth Jarosz, and Chris DickRead MoreThe dataindex.us team is excited to launch the Data Checkup – a comprehensive framework for assessing the health of federal data collections, highlighting key dimensions of risk and presenting a clear status of data well-being.
When we started dataindex.us, one of our earliest tools was a URL tracker: a simple way to monitor whether a webpage or data download link was up or down. In early 2025, that kind of monitoring became urgent as thousands of federal webpages and datasets went dark.
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Take Action! Census of Agriculture and More
February 02, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreCensus of the Week: 2027 Census of Agriculture. The Census of Agriculture is the primary source of statistics concerning the nation's agricultural industry. These data are used by Congress when developing or changing farm programs; many national and state programs are designed or allocated based on census data (e.g., soil conservation projects, funds for cooperative extension programs, and research funding); and private industry uses the data to provide more effective production and distribution systems for the agricultural community.
Comments due March 16.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
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Take Action! Data Sharing Agreements and More
January 28, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreRelated Blog of the Week: Quick Take: The Rise of Data-Sharing Agreements. Federal agencies are increasingly entering into data-sharing agreements (especially with the Department of the Treasury) often to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse. When done well, these arrangements can cut paperwork and improve services. But without strong guardrails, automated data matching can produce errors that wrongly deny people essential benefits, with serious real-world consequences. As these agreements expand, public oversight matters: agencies need accurate data linkage, regular testing for false matches, clear ways for individuals to correct errors, and limits on how sensitive data are copied and stored. There are four open public comment periods on data-sharing agreements in this week’s Take Action! – a key opportunity to weigh in on how these systems should (and should not) work.
Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.