Information Access Failure

stupid road blocks.
photo by ohine on flickr

I really hate when i’m prohibited access to information. Industry reports tend to bug me the most.

Today I am writing a white paper and a report about texting/mobile and the next steps for MPOW.  Research on the industry trends is obviously a must here. The report i need is the most recent (2009) “CTIA Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey.” CTIA, the Wireless Association, formerly the “Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association” offers a ten page summary of the survey which is of absolutely no help to me because it focuses on revenue and subscriber #s instead of usage #s, which is what i want.

The full report (of unknown size) is $450 for non CTIA members. And if you thought being a member would make this affordable, how’s $350? Um no. Data like this should be accessible to everyone! and by that i mean online and FREE. And don’t get me started about the library databases i don’t have access to anymore.

Sure, CTIA will make a lot of money off selling that report (or at least offset the costs of doing the survey) but information like that should be available to the masses. Who knows what brilliance would come out of someone with information in their hands?

I’ve been able to find enough reports (and press releases) of the survey with data i need to get me started but i really want to see the whole report. Pardon me, my librarian is showing – i like to look at the source docs before i trust the data.

Can anyone help?