Dems Acting to Repress Public Information

HR 801 is federal legislation that would take tax payer funded research OUT of the public domain!  This is truly Bush-like andf would overturn an important effort in the Clinton years to increase access of all to research taxpayers fund. 
The scientific community is completely committed to public access because we live off of knowing what others are doing.  In contrast, megalopolistic publishers, eg Elsevier, claim to be able to copyright what we publish and then restrict who can read it based on subscriptions or sale of copy to the drug companies.

For those here who worry about drug companies, HR801 would protect them from the open scrutiny that has led to so many reforms in recent years.  For those who do n to trust folks like me, this bill encourages scientists to keep their work OUT of the public domain. 

I have no idea who authored this bad legislation.

The current NIH policy was hard won by Harold Varmus, the former head of the NIH. If ANYTHING we, the folks who spend your money to do research, would all like MORE free access than the current law provides.  This si a bad step in the other direction. 

Below is a draft of a letter the Public Library of Science (also founded by Varmus) is asking folks to send to their representatives.  I recommend also sending this directly to our new President.

Steve Schwartz
UW Professor of Pathology, Bioengineering, and Cardiology
aka Seattle Jew.


 

Dear Representative,
On behalf of *YOUR ORGANIZATION*, I strongly urge you to OPPOSE H.R. 801, "the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act," introduced to the House Judiciary Committee on February 3, 2009. This bill would amend the U.S. Copyright Code, prohibiting federal agencies from requiring as a condition of funding agreements public access to the products of the research they fund. This will significantly inhibit our ability to advance scientific discovery and to stimulate innovation in all scientific disciplines.
Most critically, H.R. 801 would reverse the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy, prohibit American taxpayers from accessing the results of the crucial biomedical research funded by their taxpayer dollars, and stifle critical advancements in life-saving research and scientific discovery.
Because of the NIH Public Access Policy, millions of Americans now have access to vital health care information from the NIH's PubMed Central database. Under the current policy, nearly 3,000 new biomedical manuscripts are deposited for public accessibility each month. H.R. 801 would prohibit the deposit of these manuscripts, seriously impeding the ability of researchers, physicians, health care professionals, and families to access and use this critical health-related information in a timely manner.
H.R. 801 affects not only the results of biomedical research produced by the NIH, but also scientific research coming from all other federal agencies. Access to critical information on energy, the environment, climate change, and hundreds of other areas that directly impact the lives and well-being of the public would be unfairly limited by this proposed legislation.
***INSERT WHY YOU SUPPORT THE NIH PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY***
The NIH and other agencies must be allowed to ensure timely, public access to the results of research funded with taxpayer dollars. Please OPPOSE H.R. 801.
Sincerely,

--
Stephen M. Schwartz
Pathology