Independence Lost - Taxpayer Funding and Information Access Takes a Dark Turn - The Scholarly Kitchen

"Our industry’s economic and financial discussions about open access (OA) business models have focused on what expenses and value publishers contribute, with the Gold OA model emerging as a viable path forward. The suppression of scientific and cultural data now facing us has only slight parallels with OA publishing, as papers are not results or data, merely interpretations of reports and summaries of results. Research reports are not raw data, but are based on raw data. The fate of raw data in many fields is unsettled. However, the fate of raw data generated by governments is clearer, with traditions supporting data availability. Currently, the OPEN Government Data Act is sitting idle in Congress, however. Traditions only go so far."