Topic: Government Data

A discussion regarding historical climate data focuses on claims that the U.S. government altered 1939 heatwave statistics to support modern climate change narratives. Analysis of Australian government data suggests a 50 percent increase in random deaths unrelated to COVID-19, leading to allegations of a data cover-up regarding vaccine side effects.

Volunteers at New York University held a "Data Rescue" event to archive federal environmental data they fear may be deleted by the Trump administration. Critics argue that government data is rarely lost in this manner and call for more focus on peer-reviewed science over consensus.

The hosts discuss the ease with which the government can now build massive dossiers on citizens due to the plummeting cost of digital storage. They note that a four-terabyte hard drive can be purchased at Costco for under $150, making file space virtually unlimited for state agencies. This leads to a "better safe than sorry" approach where all personal data is permanently archived.

Smartronics has been awarded a $46 million blanket purchase agreement for virtual dataset hosting for Data.gov. This follows a previous $8 million contract for the same website, leading to host criticism regarding the efficiency and necessity of such high-cost government IT spending.

Two CD-ROMs containing 25 million personal records were lost in the mail after being sent by the UK government via TNT courier services. The breach has fueled intense public debate regarding the proposed National Identity Card and general government competence in handling private citizen data. While the disks were reportedly encrypted, concerns remain high regarding potential identity fraud and the lack of oversight in government data handling procedures.