[8869] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: JURIS - DOJ rejects TAP FOIA Request
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mark.Lawrence)
Wed Dec 8 17:53:23 1993
From: mark@drd.com (Mark.Lawrence)
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 93 16:36:04 CST
: From: "J. Timothy Sprehe" <p00269@psilink.com>
:
: Taxpayer Assets Project is still not addressing a fundamental question:
: Why should the Justice Department pay for TAP or anyone else to have a
: free (or heavily subsidized) lunch in computer assisted legal research
: (CALR)?
agreed. Now tell me: why are you characterizing making this
information available in crude form (basic text, no search
capabilities, organized in directory hierarchies at a maximum) at
marginal cost (data gotta sit on the disks in some form anyway; putting
it up for gopher or anonymous ftp is only a small step further) as
"heavily subsidized CALR"? I say: let the Lexus/Nexus/West Publishing
et al compete for adding value and services to the basic data but let
the basic data be electronically available in some fundamental, on-line
fashion. This allows for a range of access. The self-motivated
researcher whose has the time and sweat to expend can do research on
the cheap. Law Firms with clients who can afford it can use the
high-end research services. Everybody wins.
--
Mark Lawrence mark.lawrence@drd.com
DRD Corporation +1.918.743.3013
5506 South Lewis Ave. +1.918.745.9037
Tulsa OK 74105
