|
 Question: What do Google, LinkedIn, Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, Bing, Verizon, Microsoft,
Sprint, etc., etc., etc., all have in common? Answer: They all willingly participate with the
NSA, FBI, CIA, DHS, ATF, etc., etc., etc., in collecting as much data as possible about you and
me. You might say the former group has become an unofficial branch of the later group. Well, it
is about to become official based on
House
Bill S.2206 - Let Me Google That for You. It is just as well since the Google twins (not
really twins) already get discount military
jet fuel purchases and, along with other American
royalty like Mr. Gates and Jeff Bezos, have open doors to the White House any time they demand
it. The Act is ostensibly a cost-cutting measure and
effectively a privatization of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). "NTIS is tasked with collecting and distributing
government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and
business-related information and reports." Other government agencies are required to
transfer money from their budgets to the NTIS' budget (i.e., "purchase") informational reports
when needed. The
 Act points out that most of the reports and papers available from NTIS at a
cost could be accessed at to no cost on the Internet via various search engines like Google
(95% availability). The Act further points out that in 1999 the Secretary of Commerce admitted
that the NTIS would eventually outlive its usefulness and be unable to sustain its
revenue-losing profit model. Therefore, "No Federal agency should use taxpayer dollars to
purchase a report from the National Technical Information Service that is available through
the Internet for free." HB S.2206, in effect, is the death knell for the NTIS. "RIP," I say,
and the same to many other bloated and unnecessary government bureaucracies and their
over-privileged, over-paid, over-benefitted, over-politicized, under-challenged staffs. The
only problem is that the joke's on us because government never shrinks - the leviathan simply
transfers personnel and grows larger.
Since this is a proposed bill and the wording will likely change prior
to its final passage, and since there is no copyright in place on these government documents,
I've replicated its entirety here for the record.
S.2206 - Let Me Google That For You Act
113th Congress (2013-2014)
Bill
Sponsor: Sen. Coburn, Tom [R-OK] (Introduced 04/03/2014)
Cosponsors: 1
Latest Action: 04/03/2014 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Tracker:
This bill has the status Introduced
Text: S.2206 — 113th Congress (2013-2014)
There is one version of the bill.
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Introduced in Senate (04/03/2014)
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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[S. 2206 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2206
To streamline the collection and distribution of government
information.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 3, 2014
Mr. Coburn (for himself and Mrs. McCaskill) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To streamline the collection and distribution of government
information.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Let Me Google That For You Act".
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The National Technical Information Service (referred to
in this Act as "NTIS"), the National Archives and Records
Administration, the Government Accountability Office (referred
to in this section as "GAO"), and the Library of Congress all
collect, categorize, and distribute government information.
(2) NTIS was established in 1950, more than 40 years before
the creation of the Internet.
(3) NTIS is tasked with collecting and distributing
government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and
business-related information and reports.
(4) GAO found that NTIS sold only 8 percent of the
2,500,000 reports in its collection between 1995 and 2000.
(5) A November 2012 GAO review of NTIS made the following
conclusions:
(A) "Of the reports added to NTIS's repository
during fiscal years 1990 through 2011, GAO estimates
that approximately 74 percent were readily available
from other public sources.".
(B) "These reports were often available either
from the issuing organization's website, the Federal
Internet portal (https://www.USA.gov) or from another
source located through a web search.".
(C) "The source that most often had the report
[GAO] was searching for was another website located
through https://www.Google.com.".
(D) "95 percent of the reports available from
sources other than NTIS were available free of
charge.".
(6) No Federal agency should use taxpayer dollars to
purchase a report from the National Technical Information
Service that is available through the Internet for free.
(7) As far back as 1999, Secretary of Commerce William
Daley--
(A) admitted that the National Technical
Information Service would eventually outlive its
usefulness and be unable to sustain its revenue-losing
profit model;
(B) explained that "declining sales revenues soon
would not be sufficient to recover all of NTIS'
operating costs"; and
(C) attributed this "decline to other agencies'
practice of making their research results available to
the public for free through the Web".
(8) According to the November 2012 GAO report--
(A) "NTIS product expenditures exceeded revenues
for 10 out of the past 11 fiscal years.";
(B) "The agency lost, on average, about $1.3
million over the last 11 years on its products."; and
(C) "The decline in revenue for its products
continues to call into question whether NTIS's basic
statutory function of acting as a self-financing
repository and disseminator of scientific and technical
information is still viable.".
(9) NTIS has compensated for its lost revenue by charging
other Federal agencies for various services that are not
associated with NTIS's primary mission.
(10) Future technological advances will ensure that the
services offered by NTIS are even more superfluous for
essential government functions than they are today.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INFORMATION SERVICE.
(a) Repeal.--Effective on the date that is 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the National Technical Information Act of
1988 (subtitle B of title II of Public Law 100-519; 15 U.S.C. 3704b) is
repealed.
(b) Transfer of Critical Functions.--
(1) Consultation requirement.--The Secretary of Commerce,
the Archivist of the United States, the Comptroller General of
the United States, and the Commissioner of Social Security
shall consult with the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget to determine if any function of the National Technical
Information Service is critical to the economy of the United
States.
(2) GAO certification.--The Comptroller General of the
United States shall determine which of the critical functions
identified pursuant to paragraph (1) are not being carried out
by any other agency or instrumentality of the Federal
Government.
(3) Transfers authorized.--Before the effective date set
forth in subsection (a), the Secretary of Commerce may transfer
the responsibility for any critical function of NTIS (as
identified under paragraph (1)) that is not otherwise being
carried out (as determined under paragraph (2)) to another
office within the Department of Commerce.
(c) Abolition of Functions.--Except for the functions transferred
pursuant to subsection (b), all functions of the National Technical
Information Service immediately before the repeal date described in
subsection (a) are abolished on such repeal date.
SEC. 4. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE CERTIFICATION.
Before the effective date set forth in section 3(a), the Secretary
of Commerce shall submit a written certification to the Committee on
Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
House of Representatives that all of the operations of the National
Technical Information Service have been terminated.
Posted April 14, 2014
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