Excessive price for electronic information
Name(s):
Expensive public records
High consumer charges limit freedom of information
Data profiteering
Private data vendors
Incidence
Access to many computer databases of public information require purchase of expensive library cards or time charges. Much USA government data has been privatized, so that government agencies and private companies often sell data that was collected using taxpayers money. For example, US citizens must pay commercial vendors to receive electronic data from two public information databases : SCORPIO generated by the Library of Congress and LEGIS generated by the Congress which together contain the text of all bills, proceedings and other such government items. It is reported that Los Altos, California, is one city which cannot afford the fees to receive the federal legislation which it is mandated to obey.
Broader
Aggravates
Aggravated by
Strategy(ies)
Type
(F) Fuzzy exceptional problems