A new study by the Rand Corporation concludes that the U.S. federal government took too much open-access information off government web sites after the terrorist attacks of September 11. Quoting an AP news story (May 10): "The Rand Corp. said the overwhelming majority of federal Web sites that reveal information about airports, power plants, military bases and other potential terrorist targets need not be censored because similar or better information is easily available elsewhere....Advocates of open government said the report shows the Bush administration acted rashly after the suicide attacks when it scrubbed numerous government Web sites. 'It was a gigantic mistake, and I hope the study brings some rationality back to this policy,' said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' project on government secrecy. 'Up to now, decisions have been made on a knee-jerk basis.'" (Thanks to Internet Law News.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/11/2004 10:40:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
