An Effort to Define the Ideal "Law.gov"

A group of academics has been convened by Public.Resource.Org in order to define recommendations for a proposed federal government site: law.gov. The group will study the feasibility of creating the equivalent of a data.gov for legal materials. The process will define a concrete path forward forward for the government. Specifically, it will deliver:

• Detailed technical specifications for markup, authentication, bulk access, and other aspects of a distributed registry.
• A bill of lading defining which materials should be made available on the system.
• A detailed business plan and budget for the organization in the government running the new system.
• Sample enabling legislation.
• An economic impact statement detailing the effect on federal spending and economic activity.
• Procedures for auditing materials on the system to ensure authenticity.

Ed Felten, Executive Director of Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy (which also produced RECAP), is one of the co-conveners.