[Cialug] Wikileaks Publishes $1B of Public Domain Research Reports

[Todd Walton]

Wikileaks Publishes $1B of Public Domain Research Reports
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/08/1819254

"Wikileaks has released nearly a billion dollars worth of quasi-secret
reports commissioned by the United States Congress. The 6,780 reports,
current as of this month, comprise over 127,000 pages of material on
some of the most contentious issues in the nation, from the U.S.
relationship with Israel to abortion legislation. Nearly 2,300 of the
reports were updated in the last 12 months, while the oldest report
goes back to 1990. The release represents the total output of the
Congressional Research Service (CRS) electronically available to
Congressional offices. The CRS is Congress's analytical agency and has
a budget in excess of $100M per year. Although all CRS reports are
legally in the public domain, they are quasi-secret because the CRS,
as a matter of policy, makes the reports available only to members of
Congress, Congressional committees and select sister agencies such as
the GAO. Members of Congress are free to selectively release CRS
reports to the public but are only motivated to do so when they feel
the results would assist them politically. Universally embarrassing
reports are kept quiet."

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This seems like, uh..., kind of a big deal.

-todd