Subject: Please keep court opinions free Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 19:52:30 -0800 From: Ernest Hua Organization: Chromatic Research To: citation@teo.uscourts.gov CC: hua@chromatic.com I shouldn't have to state the obvious, court opinions belong to the people, not a company. West's attempts to copyright the page numbers is clearly a desperate attempt to monopolize the current system. Please adopt the public domain system, and stop subsidizing the West monopoly! I, as a citizen, should certainly have the option to go to more than ONE source (if it is not the government itself) for access to public resources. The primary value which West provides is access, not page numbers, and it is only a value because it is artificially funnelled exclusively through West. If West loses that exclusivity, it can no longer provide the primary value of its service (because anyone else can provide the access in this Web- prolific age). The sorts of dirty tactics which West uses to sway public opinion is utterly shameful. For instance, West sends federal and state legislators (you would think they represent OUR interests) to public conferences on this issue to deliberately cloud the issues and disrupt the discourse. Why does West do this? Obviously it has a very lucrative position to protect, and it will go to ANY length to protect it. The extent of the dirty tactics involved is indicative of the seriousness of this problem for our democracy. It is clear that West has no interest in having genuine public discussions of an issue which can only spell doom for their golden empire. Ernest Hua, Software Sanitation Engineer Chromatic Research 615 Tasman Drive Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1707 Phone: 408 752-9375 Fax: 408 752-9301 E-Mail: hua@chromatic.com