SEC Plans Free On-Line Access to Filings Via Internet Network
In a two-year trial project, the federal government will give Americans free on-line computer access to corporate filings at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Access to the filings at the SEC, which maintains one of the world’s most valuable stockpiles of information on corporate activities, is being financed by a $660,000 National Science Foundation grant.
The computer service will be provided by New York University’s Stern School of Business and the Internet Multicating Service. The information will be released over the Internet, the global matrix of computer networks widely used by students and researchers.
The decision to make the SEC’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval system available comes amid mounting controversy over private companies selling government data through lucrative on-line computer services.
Groups such as the Taxpayer Assets Project, a Washington public interest group affiliated with consumer activist Ralph Nader, have criticized arrangements where the government information bankrolled by taxpayers is exclusively offered through private on-line services that can cost as much as $300 an hour to use.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
