[PEN-L:32431] Re: Privatization of information

[Bill Lear <rael@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday, November 20, 2002 at 20:31:43 (-0800) michael perelman writes:
>...
>David LeDuc, public policy director of the SIIA, said the issue is
>whether there should be publicly funded competition for commercial
>search services.
>
>LeDuc said free government services could drive out corporate
>competition, thus reducing the choice available to consumers. He said he
>doubts that Scirus or Infotrieve intend to start charging for searches.
>
>"That's not how the Internet works," he said, arguing that an increasing
>amount of information is available online free. But ultimately, he said,
>the market should decide.

So, in competition with for-profit services, a spokesman for the
industry admits that government is more efficient and would win a fair
fight.  Therefore, we must let "the market ... decide", by removing
the government from the equation by fiat.


Bill