Hi everyone! All items below are covered in detail on our public changelog. Please take a minute to review the linked notes and plan any updates.
Case-Insensitive Alias Collapsing (changelog)
Effective 1 July 2025, we will drop duplicate aliases that differ only in letter-case (e.g. “VLADIMIR PUTIN” vs “Vladimir Putin”). The schema stays the same, you’ll simply see fewer redundant values.
PEP “Level of Influence” Property (changelog)
Effective 1 July 2025, new Person:classification values e.g. National government (current) or State government (past) will replace the old keyword flags in the wd_peps dataset. This data will only be available in the default dataset.
You can read more about why this is most appropriate even if you only need PEPs here.
Historical Bulk Data to Require Authentication Access (changelog)
Effective 1 July 2025, archives for 2021-2023 (and older graph snapshots) will require an authentication to access. Anonymous downloads will return HTTP 403. This limits runaway bandwidth and keeps the open set sustainable.
The following URL paths will become access-controlled:
https://data.opensanctions.org/datasets/2021*
https://data.opensanctions.org/datasets/2022*
https://data.opensanctions.org/datasets/2023*
https://data.opensanctions.org/graph/*
Suggested Action: Bulk data customers and non-commercial users can request authenticated access by contacting our support team before 1 July.
Bulk downloads should follow HTTP Redirects (changelog)
We’re migrating the dataset archive to a new CDN. Current URLs under data.opensanctions.org will start returning 3xx responses and redirecting to the new host.
Suggested Action: Please confirm that your HTTP client allows for 302/303/307 redirects within the next six months.
We also want to acknowledge that today’s Tech Update email reached your inbox without the brief context we’d intended to add, and only one day before some of the changes below take effect. A scheduling glitch on our side caused the message to send before we could add that context, and the result was a last-minute alert that doesn’t meet our communication standards.
We’re sorry for any inconvenience this timing may cause. Going forward, we’ll be adding an approval step and a schedule buffer so you receive important notices well in advance. Thank you for your understanding and for continuing to rely on OpenSanctions!