A US government website which was supposed to promote transparency in government has got off to a rocky start.

A contract to provide the $18 million contract went to Smartronix to build a website where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money, as part of President Obama's promise to make government more transparent through the Internet.

However, the contract, which was released only through repeated Freedom of Information Act requests, has been censored into a coma. The Government Services Agency released copies of the contract and related documents that are so heavily blacked out they are virtually worthless. Have a look here.

Sections that were censored dealt with subjects such as site navigation, user experience, and everything in the pricing table. We don't think this bodes well for Obama's transparency in government plans.