Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 10:20:38 -0400 (EDT) From: James McDonough Subject: EPIN Summary ********************************************************** SUMMARY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER VOL. 5, NO. 17; September 8, 1995 ********************************************************** INDEX: 1. SEC MOVES TO PROVIDE FREE EDGAR INTERNET SERVICE 2. SENATE PANEL PASSES BILL TO PRIVATIZE NTIS 3. AALL SETS UP PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON LEGAL CITATIONS **************************************************************** For more information on the complete ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER or to receive a FREE sample of the complete printed copy send an email message to EPIN Publishing at epin@access.digex.net. Include your snail mail address. ***************************************************************** 1. SEC MOVES TO PROVIDE FREE EDGAR INTERNET SERVICE: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Arthur Levitt announced last month (8/27) at the 45th Annual Investors Congress of National Association of Investors Corporation in Nashville, TN, that his agency would access to the EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering and Retrieval) corporate financial filings over the Interent at no cost to the public. The decision of the SEC to provide free Internet access to EDGAR represents a growing movement among federal officials to make the federal government's most important information resources available to the public in electronic format either at a low cost or at no cost. The SEC decision received strong backing from the White House and reported widespread support from key Congressional leaders from both the Republican and Democratic Parties. Arthur's decision represents the recognition that the private sector marketing-model, originally approved as the sole vehicle for the dissemination of EDGAR filings, was not along going to be able to meet public interest in the EDGAR information. 2. SENATE PANEL PASSES BILL TO PRIVATIZE NTIS: The Senate Government Affairs Committee approved (9/7) legislation (S. 929) to dismantle the Department of Commerce, which contains a clause calling for the sale to the private sector of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). NTIS is the federal agency that sponsors FedWorld, the federal government's electronic gateway, and is charged with the dissemination of Federal scientific, technical and engineering information. The agency must operate on a self-sustaining basis by charging fees for the information it distributes. It receives Federal appropriations from time to time, but only for capital investments. 3. AALL SETS UP PERMANENT COMMITTEE ON LEGAL CITATIONS: The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) this summer approved the establishment of a permanent committee to deal with the problem of legal citations. AALL's membership also approved recommendations that would pave the way for the adoption of a =FEmedium neutral=FE citation system, that is, a citation system not tied to a book format (volume and page number). The AALL Committee on Citation Format is headed by Prof. Rita Reusch, Director of the Law Library at the University of Utah. Reusch in a telephone interview stated this week that it will be the Committee's task to monitor all developments leading to the adoption of a medium neutral citations system for court opinions and statutes. *************************************************************** ARCHIVE: EPIN Summaries are being archived on the Electronic Frontier Foundation system. To access past summaries, use the following addresses: =20 ftp.eff.org, /pub/Publications/E-journals/EPIN/ gopher.eff.org, 1/Publications/E-journals/EPIN gopher://gopher.eff.org/hh/Publications/E-journals/EPIN/ http://www.eff.org/pub/Publications/E-journals/EPIN/ ***************************************************************** James McDonough, Editor Electronic Public Information Newsletter epin@access.digex.net; Tel:/Fax: (301) 365-3621