It turns out that some UK government agencies pay the Ordnance Survey, another government agency, for access to publicly-funded geodata. See the details at Free Our Data.
PS: In the US, the highly-regarded and publicly-funded Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports are not generally OA. Citizens who want copies often have to pay private-sector publishers, as do agencies of the federal government.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/25/2006 10:24:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.