The latest salvo in the contemporary debate on access to research publications is discussed in yesterday's New York Times:
The new Bill says:

No Federal agency may adopt, implement, maintain, continue, or otherwise engage in any policy, program, or other activity that--

(1) causes, permits, or authorizes network dissemination of any private-sector research work without the prior consent of the publisher of such work; or

(2) requires that any actual or prospective author, or the employer of such an actual or prospective author, assent to network dissemination of a private-sector research work.

Thus, while the wording of this Bill is muddy, it aims to legislate that no Federal body in the US can have a policy that requires or even encourages an academic researcher to publish their work in Open Access journals, or put a copy on their own, or their university's, website. 

DW
--
Dr Dominik Wujastyk
Department of South Asia, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies,
University of Vienna,
Spitalgasse 2-4, Courtyard 2, Entrance 2.1
1090 Vienna
Austria
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