Web Integrity Project joins the Berkman Klein Center
Project spotlights government transparency
From disinformation to digital approaches to COVID-19 mitigation, the projects and programs at the Berkman Klein Center address timely and practical research and outputs for decisionmakers and the public writ large. Now, a new project is joining the BKC repository to research government transparency and censorship.
The Web Integrity Project (WIP) was originally founded at the Sunlight Foundation by Andrew Bergman, Rachel Bergman, and Toly Rinberg to “monitor changes to government websites, holding our government accountable by revealing shifts in public information and access to Web resources, as well as changes in stated policies and priorities.” When the Sunlight Foundation ceased operations recently, WIP moved to BKC and Andrew, Rachel, and Toly joined as BKC affiliates.
WIP joins a range of legal and internet health initiatives at the Berkman Klein Center.
WIP will build on its past work revealing web censorship, such as the Trump administration’s systematic removal of information about the Affordable Care Act, as well as data integrity investigations into databases and public information repositories that have been undermined or shut down. These include uncovering errors within ICE’s Detainee Locator System and the shutdown of the National Guideline Clearinghouse database, a database for doctors, with 200,000 monthly visits, that went dark without any archive. These findings have served as the subject for numerous House and Senate Congressional oversight letters and hearings.
The Web Integrity Project has collaborated with the Berkman Klein Center’s Cyberlaw Clinic to create more equitable and just web governance, including on legal and policy questions involving the Paperwork Reduction Act. “Andrew, Rachel, and Toly have made significant contributions to open government transparency initiatives,” said Christopher Bavitz, the WilmerHale Clinical Professor of Law and the new Principal Investigator for WIP at BKC. “I’m excited to work with the WIP team to keep this vital work underway.”