Events
Promoting responsible data collection in roundtables and discussions around the world
Keeping Public Data Public: Confronting Challenges, Constructing Solutions
ARDC Community Workshop
June 26, 2025 10:30 am to 4:00 pm PT
San Francisco, CA
Chatham House Rules
Overview:
The use of internet data to train Al models has sparked a backlash against the fundamental principle of the World Wide Web: the creation of a global data commons with open access to publicly posted internet data. Across the globe, governments, private parties, and standards organizations are seeking ways to restrict access to public web data access by entities or agents that automate web data collection. As a result, the data commons is dwindling and the potential harm extends far beyond Al. Scientific research requires open access to internet data. Citizen groups that archive public websites help hold governments and corporations accountable. Today’s economy runs on commercial data mined from the internet. Businesses large and small depend upon access to market intelligence, customer sentiment, and similar information. Yet, legislation, legal action, and standards organizations are currently crafting restrictions on access to public information that threatens the future of the internet. The goal of this workshop is to develop actionable plans that address the top threats to keeping public data public and for attendees to continue to engage post-workshop to implement those plans.
Format:
This is an interactive workshop, conducted under Chatham House Rules, designed to result in the development of actionable solutions to pressing challenges. The workshop will begin with a panel discussion on the current data ecosystem and regulatory/legal environment followed by breakout sessions where participants will engage in smaller group discussions to explore solutions and identify actionable plans.
Attendees:
- Non-profits that use automated processes to collect public web data.
- Commercial entities that use automated processes to collect public web data.
- Organizations that provide tools to enable automated data collection.
- Entities whose success relies upon automated collection of publicly accessible internet data.
- Academics and technologists interested in the challenges of keeping public web data public and internet governance.
- Thought leaders in the fields of Al, open access to information, and internet governance.
Expected Outcome:
- Actionable plans to deliver solutions to the most pressing challenges to open access to publicly available internet data.
- Deepened multi-stakeholder connections to broaden support for common causes.
- An ARDC report-out providing a high-level summary of the session, without attribution to any person or entity.
