From jwarren@well.sf.ca.us Mon Feb 14 22:18:24 1994 Received: from well.sf.ca.us (jwarren@well.sf.ca.us [198.93.4.10]) by eff.org (8.6.4/8.6.4) with ESMTP id WAA25233; Mon, 14 Feb 1994 22:18:22 -0500 Received: from localhost (jwarren@localhost) by well.sf.ca.us (8.6.5/8.6.5) id RAA08210; Mon, 14 Feb 1994 17:58:10 -0800 Date: Mon, 14 Feb 1994 17:58:10 -0800 From: Jim Warren Message-Id: <199402150158.RAA08210@well.sf.ca.us> To: nobody@well.sf.ca.us Subject: GovAccess#14: Federal legislative info (fee? free?) + net white-pages Status: RO Feb.14, 1994 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin, ~1784 [from signature-msg of Jerry Berman, Exec.Dir, Electronic Frontier Found'n] === I just received notification that I am to be one of the recipients of the James Madison Freedom-of-Information Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California. Wow! Geee! Neat stuff! (Groovy ?! :-) Unrelated: I plan to send along a summary-list of what was covered in the previous GovAccess postings, "real soon now." (Only 170 emsgs left to go ...) --jim === BIG BUX FOR ACCESS TO FEDERAL INFORMATION From broseman@igc.apc.org Sat Feb 12 05:46:55 1994 [reformatted -jim] From: Barry D Roseman Subject: Fed. legis. info online (for $$$$$) Dear Jim, I thought I'd pass some information along to you about how outrageously expensive it is now to obtain online information about federal legislative and regulatory actions. Feel free to disseminate this at will. A representative of LEGI-SLATE, "The Washington Post Company's Information Subsidiary," met with me this week to try to sell me, and the national organization of which I am an officer, on its services. What is important is that LEGI-SLATE is reselling information it acquires (probably purchases) from the Government Printing Office. At least once a day, LEGI-SLATE picks up a magnetic tape from the GPO's offices, which are conveniently located just across the street from its offices, and loads that tape into its own computer system. LEGI-SLATE sells this public information not only to private users, but also to the Government! The subscribers include, I am told, Senatorial and House offices and the Library of Congress. That means that our Representatives and Senators are paying LEGI- SLATE's exorbitant rates to obtain information that they could, and should, get from the GPO for free. Of course, ordinary folk have to pay through the nose to get the same information online. Lobbyists and the organizations which employ them are the primary market for LEGI-SLATE. They can afford to pay thousands of dollars each year to get this information. The rest of us have to sit on the sidewalk, watching the parade go by. Here is what LEGI-SLATE offers, and what it costs: It offers a "Congressional Service," providing, in searchable format, the status of bills and legislative histories, committee meeting schedules, tracking of cosponsors, recorded votes, a "Hot Bill" feature and a "Quick Bill" feature (described in more detail below). This package costs $6,900 per year. This rate, I should add, includes free local access via TYMNET. Additional add-on features are as follows (annual charges): $2,000: The text of pending bills, in searchable format $1,000: Markup reports (prepared by LEGI-SLATE employees, summarizing committee votes and amendments) $1,000: The text of the Congressional Record $1,000: The text of committee reports $1,000: Bill "overviews and outlooks" (short summaries prepared LEGI-SLATE employees) $1,000: Online articles from The Washington Post, the National Journal, the Hill News (a LEGI-SLATE publication), and an index to Congressional Quarterly's Weekly Report $1,000: A roster of House and Senate members, a listing of committee assignments, voting attendance, the text of the Almanac of American Politics, and interest group ratings $1,000: A compilation of votes and a voting analysis $ 500: Bill digests and bill analyses, prepared by the staff of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) at the Library of Congress $ 500: An online version of the Congressional Staff Directory $ 500: A listing of which zip codes are in which Congressional districts $ 500: A feature to facilitate the generation of mailing lists to Senators and Representatives One can get a pared-down version of the "Congressional Service" for $1,900 per year. This "Quick Bill Service" includes a "Hot Bills" feature, which consists of a listing of bills that are getting a lot of Congressional or media attention at the moment; and a "Quick Bill" feature. The latter provides a synopsis for each bill, consisting of its title, its sponsor, a narrative description, committee referrals, committee schedules, major actions on the bill, the bill's legislative history, companion bills, a listing of laws it would amend or repeal, and recorded votes on the bill. It also provides cross-references to remarks about the bill in the Congressional Record, to committee reports, to bill text versions available, and to articles in the publications listed above. If one purchases the Quick Bill option, one can get some of the same add-ons described above. The only price difference is for the bill text. That costs "only" $1,000 in this package, since it is not searchable. For $5,900 per year, one can buy a package of these services (consisting of the Quick Bill Service, the bill text, the markup reports, the text of the Congressional Reocrd, the text of committee reports, bill overviews and outlooks, news about each bill in the four publications mentioned above, news about each bill in the online news sevices produced by the Bureau of National Affairs, and the CRS bill bill digests and abstracts). A compilation of information about each Senator and Representative costs an additional $1,000 per year. LEGI-SLATE also sells the text of the United States Code (the federal statutes). One can buy online access to one title (e.g., the one containing the Internal Revenue Code) for $1,000 per year and can pay $500 per year for each additional title; or can pay $4,900 per year for online access to all 50 titles. One can get online access to the Federal Register, another GPO publication, for $1,900 per year. Federal regulations are collected in the Code of Federal Regulations (also published by guess who). LEGI-SLATE offers online access to the CFR of $2,000 per year for the first title and $1,000 per year for each additional title; or $9,900 per year for all 50 titles. I don't dispute LEGI-SLATE's right to charge for these service. It does provide some value-added services, including the indexing and cross-referencing of this information. My point is that most of this is *public* information, which can and should be made available through the Internet. If a person wanted to pay extra for the indexing and cross-referencing, that would be his or her prerogative. Public information should be made available, at reasonable cost, to the public, not just to those with thick wallets. --Barry Roseman === OR MAYBE LEGI-SLATE IS FREE? (Naaaah! ??) Date: Fri, 11 Feb 94 13:03:40 EST From: Legislate ID Subject: New Gopher Service LEGI-SLATE Gopher Service Now on the Internet Legi-Slate, Inc. is please to announce its new LEGI-SLATE Gopher Service available on the Internet. The current version is a prototype for a complete, dynamically updated LEGI-SLATE Gopher Service scheduled for release July 1, 1994. The prototype contains information about sample bills and resolutions from the current Congress and "Federal Register" documents from 1993. To access the LEGI-SLATE Gopher Service: GOPHER to MUDHONEY.MICRO.UMN.EDU 7000 or TELNET to CONSULTANT.MICRO.UMN.EDU (Other Gophers / North America / USA / Washington, D.C.) Please send comments and questions to: LEGISLATE@MUDHONEY.MICRO.UMN.EDU LEGI-SLATE is the original and leading online service covering Congress and Federal Regulations. 777 North Capitol Street, Washington, D.C. 20002 (202) 898-2300 1-800-733-1131 Fax (202) 898-3030 === FIND YOURSELF -- NETWORK "WHITE PAGES" From: Susan Estrada Subject: NetPages .. Feel Free to Forward as Appropriate Aldea Communications wants to help people find each other on the Internet, so the concept of NetPages(tm) was developed. NetPages is an Internet email address directory based on the "phone book" concept with white and yellow pages. It will be published twice a year, with the first edition coming out in March, 1994. The first edition will be distributed in hard-copy at UNIFORUM and electronically for downloading on the Internet. You may make a white pages listing free of charge. All information is optional. Your listing will be sent to you prior to the compilation of the directory for verification. Yellow pages listings are available in the NetPages for those of you with more information to deliver. Contact us for pricing. If you have any questions or comments, write to netpages@aldea.com or call 1-800-TO ALDEA (619-943-0101). All listees will be notified of the electronic Internet "pickup" spot in March. To add your name to the directory simply return this completed template to netpages@aldea.com. We need your entry by February 21 to meet the printing deadline. Your name: Your email address: Business or personal account: Company name: Your title: City: State, Country: Aldea Communications, Inc. info@aldea.com 1-800-To-Aldea 1-619-943-0101 NetPages (tm) - The Internet Directory === Mo' as it Is. --jim Jim Warren, columnist for MicroTimes, Government Technology, BoardWatch, etc. 345 Swett Rd., Woodside CA 94062; voice/415-851-7075; fax/415-851-2814 **To join or drop from the GovAccess list, email to jwarren@well.sf.ca.us.** >>Permission herewith granted for unlimited reposting and recirculation.<<