Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

Empowering Consumers through the Smart Disclosure of Data

Today, the Administration’s interagency National Science and Technology Council released Smart Disclosure and Consumer Decision Making: Report of the Task Force on Smart Disclosure—the first comprehensive description of the Federal Government’s efforts to promote the smart disclosure of information that can help consumers make wise decisions in the marketplace.

Whether they are searching for colleges, health insurance, credit cards, airline flights, or energy providers, consumers can find it difficult to identify the specific product or service that best suits their particular needs. In some cases, the effort required to sift through all of the available information is so large that consumers make decisions using inadequate information. As a result, they may overpay, miss out on a product that would better meet their needs, or be surprised by fees.

The report released today outlines ways in which Federal agencies and other governmental and non-governmental organizations can use—and in many cases are already using—smart disclosure approaches that increase market transparency and empower consumers facing complex choices in domains such as health, education, energy and personal finance.

Agency Spotlight: Making Mobile Government a Reality

At the May 2012 launch of the President’s Digital Government Strategy, only 35% of U.S. adults owned a smartphone. Today, on the one year anniversary of the Strategy, that number is nearly 50%.

To keep pace with the rapid adoption of mobile devices and the breakneck speed of mobile innovation, President Obama charged agencies with releasing flagship mobile services and making data available in developer-friendly formats to accelerate the production of services and mobile applications.

Twelve months after the President’s call for change, there has been great progress bringing mobile government to citizens’ fingertips. Today, on the one-year anniversary of the Digital Government Strategy, agencies are announcing the release of hundreds of new mobile services, datasets, and APIs, providing unprecedented public access to government data.

Recreational boaters gearing up for a summer of fun on coastal waters and the Great Lakes can use the MyNOAACharts App to identify their location on freely available nautical charts.  Students and parents can use the StudentAid.gov App to access straightforward and easy-to-understand information about planning and paying for college. Family members visiting the Arlington National Cemetery can use the new ANC Explorer App to locate individual gravesites or other points of interest.  And Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients or their representatives can use the SSI Mobile Wage Reporter App to report monthly wages to Social Security from the convenience of their smartphone. 

Beyond this growing array of apps, major Federal websites, including www.medicare.gov, www.socialsecurity.gov, and www.faa.gov have been mobile-optimized.  Citizens can now use their mobile devices to find or submit useful information from the road. They can report traveler complaints through TSA’s TRIP form,  determine the cleanliness of nearby waterways with EPA’s How’s My Waterway site, or find the nearest Alternative Fuel Station using the Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuel Stations Mobile Locator. The list of mobile services is growing every day.