Comments/Opinions/Suggestions (FW: United States Federal Government Quickly Withdraws New Database to Study Issue of Free Access)

Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 08:33:04 -0400
From: Robbie Rand <rrand@nal.usda.gov>
Subject: FW: United States Federal Government Quickly Withdraws New Database to Study Issue of Free Access

Just as quickly as the Federal Government's new database from NTIS was opened for fee based business, it was closed by the government because of the issue of free access. This has been reported in the next days New York Times from the date of the original NYT article about the database. An excerpt of the story and a hyperlink to the story are provided below.

May 17, 1999
Government Halts New Search Service
By JERI CLAUSING

WASHINGTON -- A few hours after launching a new fee-based search engine for Federal Government Internet sites and documents, the Department of Commerce on Monday put the service on hold to review whether it conflicts with the Clinton Administration's policy on unrestricted access to Government information.

Commerce Department officials said the Administration wanted to review the Department of National Technical Information Services' joint venture with Northern Light Technology Inc. from all policy angles, not just that of the Information Service, which is a for-profit agency.

The announcement that the service was being put on hold came several hours after the Information Service and Northern Light officials held a news briefing to demonstrate the new service at the National Press Club and after newspaper articles about the project appeared.

"In announcing the product and joint venture with Northern Light, we did not anticipate any conflict with Government information policies," the acting Under Secretary for Technology Administration, Gary Bachula, said in a statement. "But questions that have arisen today point up the need for a review of this service from a policy perspective."

Full Story May Be Found At: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/05/biztech/articles/18gov.html

Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@astro.temple.edu