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Thomas Jefferson said that "Information is the currency of democracy." Information access is an area of informatics and library science which concerns ensuring free and open access to information. Information access covers many issues such as copyright, open source, privacy, and security. Image File history File links Gnome-globe. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Informatics includes the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. ... Library science or library and information science (abbreviated LIS) is the study of issues related to libraries and the information fields. ... Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it. ... Copyright symbol Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to keep their lives and personal affairs out of public view, or to control the flow of information about themselves. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Provision was made in copyright and patent law for information in the public domain. However the extent of the public domain has been under attack in recent years, as database vendors expand the copyright and contract laws to eliminate concepts such as fair use. UCITA, the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act has been defeated in most jurisdictions, but restrictions on the public domain still exist in more recent laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Copyright symbol Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a government to an inventor or applicant for a limited amount of time (normally maximum 20 years from the filing date, depending on extension). ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... For fair use in trademark law, see Fair use (US trademark law). ... The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) is a proposed law to create a clear and uniform set of rules to govern such areas as software licensing, online access, and other transactions in computer information. ... The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law which criminalizes production and dissemination of technology that can circumvent measures taken to protect copyright, not merely infringement of copyright itself, and heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. ...

Librarians have always advocated for free and open access to government information. Groups such as the American Library Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, Ralph Nader's Taxpayers Assets Project have advocated for free access to legal information. The vendor neutral citation movement in the legal field is working to ensure that courts will accept citations from cases on the web which do not have the traditional (copyrighted) page numbers from the West Publishing company. There is a worldwide Free Access to Law Movement movement which advocates free access to legal information. The Wired Magazine Article Who Owns The Law is a good introduction to the access to legal information issue. A librarian is a person who looks after the storage and retrieval of information. ... The American Library Association (ALA) promotes libraries and library education in the United States and internationally. ... Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (born February 27, 1934) is an American attorney, multi-millionaire and political activist. ... This article or section seems not to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry. ... This article is about law in society. ... // Case citation is the system used in common law countries such as the United States, England and Wales, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and India to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters or law reports. ... Westlaw is one of two major fee-based online legal research systems, providing access to state and federal statutes, case law materials, public records, and other legal resources. ... // The Free Access to Law Movement is the umbrella name for the collective of legal projects across several common law countries to provide free online access to legal information such as case law and legislation. ...

Post 9-11 acts such as the Patriot Act, in the interest of security has led to restrictions on access to certain types of information as well as an increased government attempts at surveillance of individual's private information, such as their library records. A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly... This article needs cleanup. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to keep their lives and personal affairs out of public view, or to control the flow of information about themselves. ...

The open source movement has impacted areas such as software and free access to scholarly journals. Lawrence Lessig advocates for open source and argues that computer code can regulate conduct in much the same way that legal codes do. Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... Academic publishing describes the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. ... Note: This article title may be easily confused with Lawrence Lessing. ... A legal code is a moral code enforced by the law of a state. ...

External links

• CRS Report - Access to Government Information in the United States
• Information Access Alliance
• ALA- Access to Electronic Information, Services, and Networks
• Issues in Access to Information: A Bibliography
• The Information Society - The way to equitable globalisation and development? News reports and features by IPS Inter Press Service