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It's not about who would read your work, but who can. I don't read much the FBI/NSA/rest of government produces but I'm pretty frustrated every time the suggest
by themartorana 11y ago
It's not about who would read your work, but who can. I don't read much the FBI/NSA/rest of government produces but I'm pretty frustrated every time the suggestion of exempting troves of content from the FOIA comes up.
I also know that my access guarantees other researches access to the same content, meaning the research that they do, that may one day benefit me down the road, has had free access to all of the knowledge available to make the best play at their own research.
It's scary to me that scientific knowledge can be locked away. I am the kind of person that believes all pharmaceutical research should be freely published and publicly available as well. Patents provide all the monopoly protections necessary, and sunlight helps disinfect bogus science that sometimes leads to death in the pursuit of profits.
- dahart 11y agoI agree with you, and I have the very same concerns, but you're talking about two different kinds of can. Government info that is FOIA exempt is not available for purchase. You can purchase most research, that is a kind of access. And if you're at a university doing research, chances are you already have access without paying personally. The knowledge we're talking about in this thread isn't being locked away, it's being charged for. I'm with you, and I don't like it, but we can't claim there's no access.
- themartorana 11y agoThat's not access for all. Locking information behind a paywall is limited access no matter how you spin it, whether someone can't afford to access information (individually or at scale) or said access isn't sponsored for them.