=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

This can't be good for civil liberties and monitoring of our government by the people. The URL expires this Saturday but the gist is the feds contracted to a private company the job of developing a Web-based access to govt data. The resulting basic end-user product offering is extremely limited and provides the govt with a click-by-click log of what was searched.

'Upgrading' to higher access which provides additional search facility costs up to $2500 and requires the the user be 'certified' to use the system.

--brendan

WASHINGTON BUREAU

Saturday, February 5, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is sending records of more than a trillion dollars worth of federal expenditures into a privately run database that scholars and activists say hinders their ability to examine how tax money is spent.

"This clearly raises barriers to the public," said Rick Blum, director of Openthegovern- ment.org, a coalition of about 30 nonprofit groups concerned about secrecy issues. "It's public information made available through a keyhole."

For the past 25 years, the public could peer into more than $300 billion worth of nonclassified contracts that the government signs each year through records made available every three months for as little as $60.

That is no longer possible.

more.