The report seeks to demonstrate the economic and social benefits of open access and dissemination policies for public sector information, particularly as opposed to the limitations of the "cost recovery " or "government commercialisation" approach.

The report offers good coverage of conclusions of recent economic and public policy research, as well as examples of failed or limited cost recovery experiments in the US and Europe.

Author: Peter Weiss

U.S. Department of Commerce of Commerce

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Weather Service