

Wyoming just criminalized citizen science - pjc50
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/05/wyoming_law_against_data_collection_protecting_ranchers_by_ignoring_the.html?wpsrc=sh_all_tab_tw_ru

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Red_Tarsius
– tl;dr: What is the new law?

 _The new law [...] makes it a crime to “collect resource data” from any “open
land ", meaning any land outside of a city or town, whether it’s federal,
state, or privately owned._

– What is its purpose?

 _The state wants to conceal the fact that many of its streams are
contaminated by E. coli bacteria, strains of which can cause serious health
problems, even death._

– Where does the E. coli come from?

 _E. coli [...] comes from cows spending too much time in and next to streams.
Acknowledging that fact could result in rules requiring ranchers who graze
their cows on public lands to better manage their herds. The ranching
community in Wyoming wields considerable political power and has no interest
in such obligations, so the state is trying to stop the flow of information
rather than forthrightly address the problem._

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MichaelCrawford
"citizen science".

Pierre Fermat was not a mathematician, he only did that as a hobby. In
reality, he was a judge.

