Conference attendees on Thursday also heard from Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunligtht Foundation. "Our goal has been really to use the Internet to catalyze greater openness and transparency in government," she said. Within government, officials claim to be in favor of transparency, but there are not a lot who really understand technology, Miller said.

Government spending on information projects was questioned by Miller, who cited a new government Web site called recovery.gov that reportedly will cost US$86 million to create. "I suspect there's a way to do it a lot cheaper," she said. "That figure is dumbfounding to me."