Taxpayer-funded data locked behind insurance firm's paywall

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) cannot reveal weather forecasts from a particularly accurate hurricane prediction model to the public that pays for the American government agency – because of a deal with a private insurance risk firm.

The model at issue is called the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP) Corrected Consensus Approach (HCCA). In 2023, it was deemed in a National Hurricane Center (NHC) report [PDF] to be one of the two “best performers,” the other being a model called IVCN (Intensity Variable Consensus).

2020 contract between NOAA and RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences, disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Washington Post, requires NOAA to keep HCCA forecasts – which incorporate a proprietary technique from RenaissanceRe – secret for five years.

  • circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org
    5·
    1 month ago

    We are not in direct control. That’s the disconnect.

    Case in point: the US sells arms to Israel. Numerous polls show a lack of support for Israel’s current actions among US citizens, and yet the arms sales continue.

    I get that the electoral college is a great excuse for the popular vote not mattering in presidential elections, but what is the excuse when the country has said they don’t want their money going somewhere but it doesn’t stop flowing?