SEC Edgar Database May Not Last

[James Love <love@tap.org>]

TAP-INFO Information Policy Note
Crown Jewels - EDGAR
October 3, 1995

The SEC's EDGAR database is now online from the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.
The following note was provided by Carl Malamud, the person who runs the 
Internet Multicasting Service (IMS), the non-profit organization that
(with NYU) provide Internet access to the EDGAR databased for two years. 
 
Carl is concerned that Disclosure, Inc. and other vendors are mounting 
an effort to end or change the SEC's new EDGAR dissemination project,
which began last week.  I've been talking with persons from the industry 
and the Congress.  One thing the vendors want to do is to prohibit
the SEC from providing bulk access to its filings for free, 
thereby increasing the cost of entry into the value added market.
I hope to provide additional details at the end of the week.
Here is Carl's note, which he sent to me on friday of last week (but 
didn't go out due to network problems).  
jamie  (love@tap.org)

----------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 29 Sep 1995 16:33:50 -0400 (EDT)
From: Carl Malamud <carl@radio.com>

Please Redistribute:

Yesterday, September 28, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began
providing Internet access to the EDGAR database:

	http://www.sec.gov/

Lobbyists for the Information Industry Association (IIA) have actively opposed 
this project and are working actively to have it killed.  If you have opinions 
on the issue, it is crucial that you make your views known by writing to 
Chairman Levitt of the SEC in care of:

	sec@town.hall.org

EDGAR on the Internet began two years ago as a trial project with New York 
University and the non-profit Internet Multicasting Service.  Over 3 million 
documents were distributed and the current rate of access is over 17,000 
documents per day.  The Internet database makes key financial information 
available to people who did not have it before: students, public interest 
groups, senior citizen investment clubs, and many others.

Lobbyists contend that free access to simple keyword searches and unprocessed 
bulk databases threatens the retail information industry.  We believe that the 
opposite is true: free access to raw data expands the market of potential 
users.  Evidence of this is that Moody's, RR Donnelley, and Disclosure all 
signed contracts offering to help the Internet Multicasting Service. 

There is still a crucial role for the Information Industries.  They provide 
value added in the form of real-time access, extensive historical databases, 
consulting, re-formatted documents, and extracts of key portions of documents.  
However, putting raw data on the Internet 24 hours after publication is *not* 
value added and the companies that will thrive in the information age do not 
view this as a threat.

This issue is a key test of the Contract With America.  The Paperwork Reduction 
Act, which takes effect on October 1, was a key part of the Contract and 
stated that government data should not be made available at inflated prices to 
a few special interests.  The SEC EDGAR project carries out the provisions of 
that law that state that data *must* be available through a "diversity of 
public and private sources" and the public must get access to key government 
databases in a "timely and equitable manner."

There are two purposes of the Securities and Exchange Commission: enforcement
and disclosure.  Disclosure means that the investing public has the 
information they need so that the capital flows to the best firms in the
market. The EDGAR database is not a product to be auctioned off to the 
highest bidder: it is fuel for the information economy.

If you feel strongly for or against this project, you should let your
views be known now.  

Carl Malamud
Internet Multicasting Service

	Write to the SEC in care of sec@town.hall.org.


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