Mobilize Biomedical Data to Save Lives, Don't Privatize in "Last Mile"

"A decade ago, Internet hacktivist Aaron Swartz published the “Guerilla Open Access Manifesto”. Whether or not one agrees with his proposed solution, his statement of the problem merits repeating: “Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations.” Mobilized and actionable biomedical knowledge is literally the power to save lives. Now is the long overdue time to catalyze a national (or international) dialogue vis-à-vis democratizing this power; in dollars and in human lives, we cannot afford the cost of failing to do so."