The degree of control which the government chooses to exercise at any particular moment may be unpredictable but recent history is replete with instances of ill-advised and even silly restrictions placed on the free flow of scientific information in the name of national security. This criticism was anticipated in intragovernmental discussions which preceded the award of this contract to the American Chemical Society. Whenever the chemical notation systems are discussed at scientific meetings most chemists appear uninterested. This does not mean that the benefits of a chemical registry and structure searching system will not ultimately benefit thousands of chemists throughout the world, in the same way that mankind may benefit from a hundred million dollars particle accelerator even though only a few may use it. It is rather a question of national priorities.
Criticism also comes from private entrepreneurs in the growing information industry.
The project shows no respect for well-established statistical sampling techniques. Apparently the project managers feel that the only way to test their system is to build it first and try it later. Having planned on the encoding of 200,000 chemical compounds, the project has done closer to 800,000 and appears to be headed, in the already signed follow-up contract, toward at least doubling that figure. A number of small developmental studies have been conducted which seem useful, such as comparing magnetic tape typewriters to key punch machines and typewriters for the input of information on chemical structures to a computer. But no one at C.A. seems to have asked why one should spend from one to two dollars per compound to get a structure into the file when it could he done at lower cost using the already tested Wiswesser notation system or a similar system.