Tableau took some heat when they unexpectedly took down the publicly-created visualizations of the WikiLeaks cables. Realizing that perhaps that wasn’t the best solution to the touchy subject, they’ve spent some time working on a better solution. Today, they’ve announced a new Data Policy and Advisory Board, hopefully to prevent this from happening again.
The two main changes to our data policy are:
1. We are establishing a more formal complaint process, by which people can challenge data posted to Tableau Public. By outlining specific circumstances in which we will consider taking down data, the new policy puts complaints through a higher level of scrutiny than before.
2. We’re more closely aligning our policy with the accepted guidelines for free speech on the internet. You can access our full data policy for more detail at www.tableausoftware.com/public/data-policy.
The advisory board contains people from media, technology, publishing, and communications around the world, offering a nice balanced mix of expertise.
As public data becomes a bigger driver, and more companies find themselves playing the role of “data brokers” and “Visualization brokers”, we’re going to hear more and more about these types of scenarios. What do you think? Did Tableau do a good job? Could they have done more?
via The Data is In: New Policy & Advisory Board for Tableau Public | Tableau Public.
