[sliverstorm]

document archive is sitting behind a paywall-esque system. Is there a good reason for this?

Traditionally the reason is it requires somebody to go find the physical copy, scan it, and send it to you.

I would imagine that they could instead scan and index them, and then put them up online

Physical archival, once archived, is pretty low-maintenance. They could scan and index them, but that costs something. Yes, the information in the documents has already been paid for, but transferring that information has not.

<sarcasm>Yes, what a boon for the public.</sarcasm>

Well, at least you can get access if you need it. Compared to zero access, I'd say that's a boon. Also a good first step.

[jonknee]

They should have the policy that once someone requests a document it is made public (just the document, no the request). Bootstrap the digital index with the most interesting documents as suggested by public demand.

[anotherhue]

I don't know why these documents have been scanned, but this is where I've gotten all the online references so far. And no, there is no index :(

These can only be found by crawling through the top level directory, which I only found through Google. It's just not a priority for the FCC.

http://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Databases/docum...

http://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/OSEC/library/legislative_h...