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Open Source Molecules

Posted by Zonk on from the chemistry-for-the-people dept.

manganese4 writes "They've been discussed before in relation to Google, but the American Chemical Society has launched a new effort against perceived competitors. They are attempting to limit the government's ability to freely publish the results of scientific work paid for by tax dollars. The British journal Nature and the Univeristy of California reports on efforts by the ACS in attempting to shutdown a free database, PubChem, of molecular structures because it competes head to head with the fee-for-service Chemical Abstract Service. Their rationale is that the government should not spend taxpayer dollars on something private business is already doing. Luckily the government has not backed down."

4 of 294 comments (clear)

  1. Private and public are not mutually exclusive by October_30th · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Why is it that people always see public and private services as mutually exclusive options?

    For instance, private and public health care as well as transportation work very well together.

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    The owls are not what they seem
  2. by that logic by poor_boi · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Their rational is that the government should not spend taxpayer dollars on something private business is already doing.

    Guess we can shut down public schools then, now, eh?

  3. Re:Not so fast, Uncle Sam by JanneM · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Government shouldn't pay for something that the private sector is already doing. Full stop.

    So if I start my own fire brigade I should demand that publicly funded fire fighing be outlawed?

    Libraries should be closed since booksellers are missing out on sales?

    Private schols certainly have a distorted market with public schools being provided.

    Who decides what is critical for the government to provide? Would you not say that health care, for instance, falls under providing safety?

    --
    Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
  4. Re:Not so fast, Uncle Sam by redcone · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It is not about government encroachment. it is about the right of the taxpayers to freely access the results of research paid for by public taxes and not having it "claimed" as the private property" of a for profit organization.

    The question of whether governments should finance research is a separate issue.

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    http://redcone.net