SEC WWW - EDGAR OnLine Announced

[luther@radio.com (Luther Brown Jr.)]

>Date: 27 Aug 95 13:15:25 EDT
>From: BartellM <76622.1055@compuserve.com>
>To: IMS <luther@radio.com>
>Cc: Mike Bartell <mbartell@capcon.net>
>Subject: SEC WWW - EDGAR OnLine Announced
>
>Luther:
>
>The following is the Press Release Chairman Levitt is issuing today concerning
>EDGAR on the Internet.  We'll be establishing a WWW site and offering EDGAR
>data.  We'll be working together quite a bit in the next several weeks I'm
sure.
>If you could put this press release up on your site the Commission would
>appreciate it.  We'll be publishing technical details int he coming weeks.
>Please give me a call when you recieve this so I know you got it OK.  My home
>number is [703] 323-8898.  My email addresses are:
>
>mbartell@capcon.net (preferred)
>76622.1055@compuserve.com (alternate)
>
>Thanks.  Mike Bartell
>
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>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                             
> 
>                 S.E.C. CHAIRMAN ARTHUR LEVITT DETAILS 
>     AGENCY PLANS TO MAKE DATABASE WIDELY AVAILABLE 
>
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>     Washington, D.C., August 27, 1995 -- In a speech today in  
>Nashville, Tennessee, before the 45th Annual Investors Congress of  
>the National Association of Investors Corporation, SEC Chairman  
>Arthur Levitt announced the agency's plans to make its electronic  
>database of corporate information widely available to the public  
>through the Internet.   
> 
>     "This fall, the SEC will use the Internet to make available to  
>all American investors, large or small, its public database of  
>corporate information within 24 hours of when it's filed with us,"  
>said Chairman Levitt.  The database is known as EDGAR, which stands  
>for Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval.   
> 
>     "It is a major Commission priority to use electronic  
>communications to bring clearer, faster, more complete disclosure  
>to investors as well as to reduce costs for issuers.  This  
>represents a logical step in our efforts to better inform  
>investors.  
> 
>     "One of the main reasons the SEC was created was to act as a  
>library for corporate information and make it available to  
>investors.  We receive about 12 million documents a year.  We've  
>been thinking about how to make EDGAR better for years," continued  
>Mr. Levitt.  "At the same time, the National Science Foundation  
>sponsored a pilot project that put EDGAR out on the Internet and  
>proved it could be done.  That experiment ends on October 1st.   
>We've had many creative offers from the private sector to keep  
>EDGAR on the Internet after that date, but all of them would in  
>some way limit the amount of information available, or else attach  
>too many commercial strings.   
> 
>     "Taxpayers and shareholders have already paid to compile this  
>information -- they should not have to pay again.  And a library  
>that charges people by the page, or by the minute, is no longer a  
>library.   
> 
>     "Technology is so advanced that the cost to the Commission is  
>quite modest.  With a personal computer and a modem, you'll be able  
>to have the entire SEC Public Reference Room in your own living  
>room.  You'll be able to research information and download  
>documents.  Nothing could be better for investors -- and nothing  
>could be better for the market, which thrives on accurate  
>information.  The service will be free." 
> 
>     In close cooperation with Congress, particularly Congressmen  
>Jack Fields (R-TX), Chairman of the Subcommittee on  
>Telecommunications and Finance, Dan Frisa (R-NY) who has worked  
>closely with us on this project in recent weeks, John Dingell (D- 
>MI) and Ed Markey (D-MA), the Commission has been undergoing a  
>thorough review of its use of technology to better communicate with  
>investors and to simplify requirements and cut costs for corporate  
>filers.  This review included an SEC technology conference held on  
>August 14 in Washington, D.C. to solicit public input on how to  
>improve the EDGAR system.  This initiative is the first of a series  
>of EDGAR improvements envisioned by Chairman Arthur Levitt and  
>Commissioner Steve Wallman. 
> 
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