Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!src.honeywell.com!msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!dmshq!com50!craig
From: craig@com50.c2s.mn.org (Craig Wilson)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: OUTLAW ALL DATABASES!!
Summary: lists of lists of lists....
Message-ID: <1990Nov30.145825.5817@com50.c2s.mn.org>
Date: 30 Nov 90 14:58:25 GMT
References: <7425@hub.ucsb.edu> <1990Nov29.165310.667@digibd.com>
Organization: Com Squared Systems, Inc.
Lines: 58

In article <1990Nov29.165310.667@digibd.com> merlyn@digibd.com (Brian Westley (Merlyn LeRoy)) writes:
>Anyone up to creating a database of "all organizations that keep a database"?
>
>More importantly, would it list itself?
>---
>Merlyn LeRoy
>N-P incomplete

Remember, when databases are outlawed, only outlaws will have databases.


Two years ago, I started a search into the State of Minnesota innards to
determine what information the state was keeping, what they were maintaining it
on, and who had access to it.  It was an interesting search which, after a
number of phone calls, led me to a basement corner in a state office building.
There was a group of people chartered to build and maintain a list of the very
information I was seeking.  They were compiling their list on a Tandy
multi-user system.  I was able to request and get a hardcopy of the database.
The hardcopy output stood about eight inches high, although 25-30% of these
pages were blank.  Unfortunately, I could not get a magnetic version of the
list.

The database included listings running from professional certification results
to data about IronWorld in Northern Minnesota.  However, it did not include a
reference to online legislation or legislative voting records. Nor, did it
include a source for census derived data or demographic data, which are what I
was really looking for.  

It did list what types of data could be obtained from the agency or 
department maintaining a database, and what media types could be used for 
output.

You may be wondering why I was searching for sources of this kind of
information.  The answer is that I was working on some political campaigns for
challengers to the State House and State Senate.  In a suburban area that has
experienced a fair amount of growth over the last decade, I was curious about
how the demographic data described the area. As opposed to what people's
ideas were about it.  I was hoping to be able to get enough information to 
build profiles of the various neighborhoods, cities, and the district as a 
whole.

And, I was looking to do it on a shoestring budget.

It would be interesting to hear from people in other states and countries on
whether a database of databases is available and what the "citizen" access
rights are to that information.  I feel that since the government and other
organizations are going to build and maintain the lists, the citizens should be
able to obtain and use the same data.  Especially, the data obtained and
maintained at taxpayer's expense.

btw: The database list I received did NOT include a self-reference.

/craig

Craig S. Wilson           |    Democracy      |uucp path under construction.
Com Squared Systems, Inc  |    is not  a      |craig@c2s.mn.org
2520 Pilot Knob Road      |    spectator      |(612) 452-9522 voice
Mendota Heights MN 55120  |      sport.       |(612) 452-3607 fax