Interesting People mailing list archives
Action Alert - Protect Public Weather Data!!
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 06:09:26 -0400
------ Forwarded Message From: EFFector list <editor () eff org> Organization: EFF Reply-To: EFFector list <editor () eff org> Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 23:15:43 -0500 To: <farber () cis upenn edu> Subject: EFFector 18.13: Action Alert - Protect Public Weather Data!! * Action Alert: Protect Public Weather Data! The National Weather Service (NWS), a taxpayer-funded agency, monitors thousands of weather stations around America in order to predict hurricanes, sunshine, and every meteorological event in between. In addition to the raw data that it assembles, NWS has recently started offering more user-friendly info to the public via the Internet. So why has Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) introduced a bill that would restrict the kind of information that NWS can freely share? The National Weather Services Duties Act (S.786) would ban NWS from "competing" with private entities by making it unlawful for the agency to publish user-friendly weather data and barring NWS experts from speaking one-on-one to news agencies. Why? Because Senator Santorum believes that companies like AccuWeather would make more money if they didn't have to compete with "free." That's right - he believes you should pay twice for your weather information in order to line the pockets of the private weather industry, which *already* benefits from repackaging the data that tax-funded agencies like NWS give away. That's not only unfair, it's a bad precedent for our national information resources. Help stop S.786 by sending a letter to your senators today! Make your voice heard with the EFF Action Center: <http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=123> More info: Text of National Weather Services Duties Act of 2005: <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:s786:> Palm Beach Post: "Feds' Weather Information Could Go Dark": <http://www.eff.org/cgi/tiny?urlID=450> : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . : . ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Action Alert - Protect Public Weather Data!! David Farber (Apr 29)