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Should Taxpayers Pay Twice For Weather Data?

Posted by timothy on from the decaptivation dept.

theodp writes "Thanks to O.M.B. Circular A-130, taxpayers now enjoy free access to SEC, Patent Office, and IRS data over the Internet. Now the Bush administration must decide whether to order the National Weather Service to make taxpayer-funded weather readings freely available on the Net, ignoring complaints from an industry trade group that doing so violates pre-Internet era agreements."

6 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. Incumbent weather providers.... by stimpleton · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As the weather changes for the worse recently, freely available weather data could possibly save lives.
    Highlighted by a recent incident where heavy rain fell, a river rose, and 700 people were evacuated at 1am in a camp ground. On the news a 10yo kid recounted how the water was ankle deep in his tent, when the family was woken for evac. Some hours later only the tent tops were visible.
    The commercial weather incumbent couldnt warn these people. A camper in the internet cafe might of.

    --

    In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
  2. FUD? by deltagreen · · Score: 3, Interesting
    From the CNet-article:
    We feel that they spend a lot of their funding and attention on duplicating products and services that already exist in the private sector, Barry Lee Myers, executive vice president of AccuWeather, says of the weather service. And they are not spending the kind of time and effort that is needed on catastrophic issues that involve lives and property, which I think is really their true function.

    He added that the weather service might have done a better, faster job of warning about the southern Asian tsunami if it had not been distracted in this way.

    Is it just me, or does this sound like scare tactics? Would the National Weather Service hire fewer meteorologists or invest less in necessary equipment, instead spending the money on these public services? Or could public appreciation of the services actually mean better funding for the NWS, recouping the costs?

    If anyone knows, has there been real criticism concerning the tsunami and the weather service? And secondly, what's the cost of these public services compared to the total budget?

    I think this is just FUD, but if anyone has facts that say otherwise, I'll listen.

  3. Re:Judging by other Bush Admin decisions... by MourningBlade · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, now-adays it's rarely "classified" it's just "sensitive." You see, sensitive doesn't have any accountability. You can actually get in trouble for classifying something that shouldn't have been.

    Want an example of "sensitive"? Look up the Barlow case regarding the TSA. All details concerning airport security are considered "sensitive." This includes things such as "as a TSA examiner, are you encouraged to look for drugs?" (which would be illegal).

    There's far more than that. Also, the FOIA compliance rate has gone way, way down under this administration. I believe the ACLU has hard numbers on that (not surprising, given how many FOIA requests they make).

    An argument could be made that "sensitive isn't classified" and it would be correct, but it belies the reality that "sensitive" is effectively "classified."

  4. Actually by gerf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's kicking up some cool innovation. If you use Firefox, you can use the WeatherFox extension that uses this service. Now, I have nifty icons in my status bar and other information telling me my weather forcast.

    This is very helpful for me, as I'm on a farm where weather changes are very important to know. I'm quite happy I no longer have to look at weather.com and its horrid layout.

    1. Re:Actually by yasth · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually Forecastfox (WeatherFox's current name) uses the The Weather Channel (i.e. weather.com) as its source.) It is however very cool http://forecastfox.mozdev.org/

      As to the story, I don't see what the big deal with providing internet access is when there is already a national weather radio service broadcasting this. I mean most people use weatherbug even though it is scary ad bedecked, slow, and when better options exist. Yet they do. So most likely accuweather shouldn't worry.

      --
      I'd do something interesting, but my server can't handle a slashdotting.
  5. Re:That long silence you hear... by KlomDark · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Left Wing Pinko" - There's an insult straight out of the McCarthy era. Is that the best you can do?

    I suppose you are just loving the return to that era, huh? So American, so Patriotic, so 1984...