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TechPresident points to and interesting article today from the Yale Journal of Law & Technology (draft version of article set to appear in 2008-2009 Fall Issue) that proposes a new form of open government that encourages the closure of government web sites. The idea is that US government web sites are so notoriously bad, they should just be torn down in favor of private sector alternatives. But this is more than just a privatization push, this is about turning the government into a data platform.

“Rather than struggling, as it currently does, to design sites that meet each end-user need, it should focus on creating a simple, reliable and publicly accessible infrastructure that “exposes” the underlying data,” says the draft version of the article (emphasis theirs). In other words, the government should become a data platform, exposing their vast amounts of data to the public — i.e., via API — and let the private sector mash it up to make helpful services for people.

The authors say that an open government data platform would lead “toward an ecosystem of grassroots, unplanned solutions to online civic needs.” Eventually, the authors think that data mashup tools will become so commonplace and easy to use that people will no longer need third parties help them consume the information they seek. Instead, they’ll be able to tap into the open government data layer and create custom applications with it on their own time. Think: Dapper for government.