While cyberspace theorists trumpet the information-age dictum that "knowledge is power," RTK NET validates it.
Since its creation in 1989, the Washington, DC-based "right-to-know" network has shown the usefulness of giving the public electronic access to government information. RTK NET arose from a single sentence stealthily inserted into 1986 legislation requiring companies to report their toxic releases to the Environmental Protection Agency. Ron Outen, an environmental consultant who was then a staff member for Republican Senator Robert stafford of Vermont, was drafting the legislation at his dinner table one night when it occurred to him to insert a provision requiring the agency to make the corporate data available to the public via computer telecommunications. "I thought, This is really wild - I'll never get away with this!" Outen says. As it turned out, while other provisions of the law were contested, his sentence was never challenged.
At first, the EPA made the data available at the National Library of Medicine, but computer access was both expensive and technically daunting, and the database had no impact. Its value didn't become clear until OMB Watch, backed by foundation grants, put the data on RTK NET in a more accessible form and then trained local groups to use the information.
RTK NET's longest-running database, consisting of EPA statistics on corporate emissions of 300 toxic chemicals, has changed the balance of power between environmentalists and industry. By regularly disseminating its data on local computer bulletin boards, RTK NET has helped win more than a hundred lawsuits, and has aided community groups in pressing local companies to reduce pollution.
RTK NET: +1 (202) 234 8494, modem +1 (202) 234 8570, or telnet to rtknet.org, login: public.
SCANS
The Angriest Guy in All of Cyberland
A Revolution in the "Right-to-Know"
