NYT: Parole Board Documents on Web

[Dan Tebbutt]

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/1108parole.html

NY Times reporting controversy about New Jersey Parole Board making 
docs available on Web. The info is required to be provided to the 
public and it is currently distributed in paper form.

>"The flurry of interest came as a surprise to Robert M. Egles,
>executive director of the
>  state parole board in New Jersey. The site has been operating 
>without fanfare since
>  May 5, he said, and was viewed by parole board officials simply as 
>new means of
>  complying with a 17-year-old state law that requires public notice 
>at least 30 days
>   before an inmate's parole hearing. 

>"The Web site just seemed like a logical thing for us to do," Egles 
>said. "It didn't
>     seem particularly innovative." "


Seems very similar to the silly tabloid-inspired brouhaha about the 
excellent AustLII database. If information is public property, why 
should it be restricted to the stuffy confines of law reports?

dan