text: happening in the very same period in which*" we are observing a worldwide diffusion of access to*
  
  *information laws that empower citizens to hold government agencies accountable."*
  
  In such a context, "Public Data"is critical just because it is a much bigger set of data than what 
  
  constitutes traditional, official PSI. "Public Data" includes all that information*plus*the much bigger 
  
  amount of data describing and measuring all the activities of private companies, from bus 
  
  timetables to packaged food ingredients, aqueducts performances and composition of fumes 
  
  released in the atmosphere, that have a*direct impact*on the health and rights of all citizens of the 
  
  communities affected by the activities of those companies. 
  
  Are such data "Public" today, in the sense defined at the beginning of this paragraph, that is 
  
  something every citizen has the right to know without intermediaries or delegates, or not? Should 
  
  they be public? If yes, shouldn't law mandate that all such data be Open (that is, published online as 
  
  soon as possible, in machine readable format with an open license etc...) just like, for example, the 
  
  budget of some Ministry? Answering these questions may be one of the biggest challenges for the 
  
  Open Data community, and for society as a whole, in the next years. 