Pet The Petition

A few months ago, I posted about publishing companies trying to charge for access to research studies paid for by taxpayers. Today my friends at The Doctor Weighs In posted about a way for each of us to really make a difference in this fight.

The White House has an online petition system where citizens can weigh in on issues before the President. If the petition gets 25,000 "signatures" within 30 days of it being created, it will be presented to the President where it must become part of the policy discussion. This is a great way for We, The People, to address and direct our government (especially in these times of corporate-captured government).

There is a petition currently in circulation to demand that scientific research paid for with taxpayer dollars remain freely accessible to anyone wishing to read it. The current signature count is just shy of 16,400 and I strongly urge my readers to sign and share this petition by email and/or social media. Working together we can ensure our intellectual property isn't stolen and we are then charged for its return by the very thieves who stole it.

DANGER - Public Access To Research

I rely quite a bit on public access to research papers in order to better understand ALS and to bring you this blog, for what it's worth. The US Taxpayers, through NIH grants, fund quite a lot of the medical research that is done in the United States. If we paid for this research, we should be able to have access to the results (which, again, we already paid for).

However, a bill is being introduced to take that away. The bill is sponsored by Carolyn Maloney (D - NY) and Darrel Issa (R - CA). Ms. Maloney received the most individual political contributions of the medical publishing giant Elsevier in 2011. Mr. Issa is also on the contribution list. Once again we see that corporate money in politics does not favor the citizens. This is not a political blog so I will cease my digression.

Clearly this is a threat to public access to knowledge which the public already owns. This public knowledge benefits people like me and you as well as institutions such as schools. If you want to retain your rights to access that for which you already paid, action is needed. I urge you to contact your Congresscritter and urge him or her to kill HR 3699. You could also contact Congresswoman Maloney to express your opinion of this bill:
Twitter: @RepMaloney
@CarolynBMaloney
Phone: 202-225-7944
FAX: 202-225-4709
Email: Use this form

Don't let corporations steal from you and charge you for the favor.