Shutdown Impacts Information Access

As we head to almost a month of a partial government shutdown (it began on December 21, 2018) one of the areas to receive collateral damage is the vast array of data collected and disseminated by the federal government. For agencies that are not funded, their websites are not being updated. Eerily, the population clock on census.gov is stopped at December 21’s numbers:

Climatological, census, economic, technical and scientific information remains unavailable to businesses, researchers and citizens.

Some agencies have shut off access, like National Institute of Standards and Technology, which provides all cryptology standards needed for software producers and engineers. Those who rely on the standards are hamstrung.

A more profound concern is that some crucial data will go permanently uncollected.

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