Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 09:12:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: James McDonough <epin@access.digex.net>
Subject: EPIN Summary

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     SUMMARY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER
                  VOL. 5, NO. 19; October 6, 1995
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INDEX:

1. PRIVATE SECTOR CHALLENGES  PUBLIC DATABASES ON INTERNET
2. GPO: OMB IGNORES AGENCY'S INFORMATION DISSEMINATION ROLE
3. OMB EMBRACES TRADEMARKS FOR FEDERAL INFORMATION

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1. PRIVATE SECTOR CHALLENGES  PUBLIC DATABASES ON INTERNET: A more
aggressive information dissemination posture by the Clinton
Administration is provoking outcries from the information industry.
Recent moves by two executive branch agencies to provide Internet
access to two valuable databases has brought the Administration
into confrontation with information companies and the Information
Industry Association (IIA). The Clinton administration is being
accused of violating either the Paperwork Reduction Act or Circular
a-130 in making the EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and
Retrieval) filings and the automated patent system available on the
Internet without charge to the user. 

2. GPO: OMB IGNORES AGENCY'S INFORMATION DISSEMINATION ROLE 
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum (9/29) on
implementing the information dissemination provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) [P.L. 104-13] has provoked a
the ire of the Government Printing Office (GPO). Specifically, GPO
officials claim that the memorandum has either ignored or
downplayed GPO'S role as a information dissemination agency.

3. OMB EMBRACES TRADEMARKS FOR FEDERAL INFORMATION: Federal agency
use of trademarks to guarantee the validity of government
information was endorsed late last month by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB). In a memorandum (9/28) to agency heads
on implementing the information dissemination provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) [ P.L. 104-13], OMB Director
Alice M. Rivlin stated that agencies "may establish a procedure by
which private disseminators of the agency's information may have
the data and/or value-added processing checked for accuracy and
certified by the agency." By using an agency trademark,
disseminators of the data would be able to respond to the demand
for integrity from purchasers and users. Rivlin stated that
agencies could require redisseminators who wish to use the
trademark to agree to appropriate integrity procedures.

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James McDonough, Editor
Electronic Public Information Newsletter
epin@access.digex.net; Tel:/Fax: (301) 365-3621