The end to easy access to Obama administration open data from the White House website will hurt businesses, developers and researchers say open government advocates. Most of the data has been archived and is now available albeit in inconvenient access through the National Archives and Record Administration. But many fear that the Trump administration is not committed to open data necessary for commercial and scientific enterprises. (WindowsITPro, March 2, 2017, by Todd R. Weiss)
The data blank will also hamper political reporting who could count on the White House site to readily gather information on such issues as government salaries and federal funding of state programs. (The Toledo Blade, February 22, 2017, by Tracie Mauriello of the Block News Alliance)
Innovators are deprived of data needed to create startups or business initiatives and solve social problems. The Agriculture Department also removed data collected on animal welfare making it difficult for pet store owners to comply with state laws requiring them to only do business with breeders with clear records. (The Hill, February 212, 2017, by Joshua New)