We take for granted that such information will always be there when we need it. The combined power of computers and the Internet has made it possible to compile huge databases and then to charge everyone for gaining access to the information. The combination of new legislation with the technology will, in effect, allow database owners to control how factual information is used, who uses it and at what cost. Like so many other things involving technology, there's a tendency to assume that if it can be done, it should be done. We sometimes forget how much we rely upon access to facts for both personal and business activities such as buying or selling a house, conducting consumer research, compiling a family genealogy, making investment decisions using stock quotations and more.
Factual databases are everywhere.
They include sports statistics, real estate listings, TV broadcast schedules and the white pages of the telephone book. For supporters of H.R. 354, such as the New York Stock Exchange, the opportunity to charge every time someone makes use of such a database represents an enormous financial windfall. Vast amounts of factual information are now freely available in American society. In many cases the public has already paid for the data before it is compiled and packaged in a database. Most scientific research is funded by taxpayers.