{
  "id": "1996-july-data-you-can-access",
  "slug": "1996-july-data-you-can-access",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-july-data-you-can-access.html",
  "year": 1996,
  "month": "July",
  "monthNum": 7,
  "headline": "Data you can access",
  "kicker": "On the Internet",
  "author_name": "David A. Milliron",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "Gannett News Service",
  "summary": "A comprehensive guide to free, searchable online databases available to newsrooms, including telephone directories, business listings, legal databases, mapping tools, and specialized resources for pesticide and environmental information research.",
  "keywords": [
    "databases",
    "directories",
    "newsrooms"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Data & Databases",
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Technology"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "Internet",
    "World Wide Web",
    "gopher"
  ],
  "full_text": "Here's more of our list of free searchable databases any newsroom with Internet access can access:\nArea codes for U.S. and Canadian telephone numbers seem to change faster than the latest Top 10 songs in America. Here is a database that keeps you current. Look up area codes anywhere in the country in a flash.\nhttp://www.555-1212.com/aclookup.html gopher://odie.niaid.nih.gov/77/deskref .areacode/index\ngopher://coral.bucknell.edu:4320/ 7areacode\ngopher://riceinfo.rice.edu:1103/7areacod gopher://gopher.austin.unimelb.edu.au:70 7waissrc%3A/general/country-codes\nFind people using all the telephone directories in the United States and Canada. Toll-free numbers can be found by name and geographic location. Find business or government in the United States and Canada. Blue Pages is a category-based directory of city, state, and federal government listings. Yellow Pages allows searches by category and topic in the United States and Canada. Fax Directory is the largest single source of fax numbers available.\nhttp://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/ 8377/ultimate.html\nhttp://www.infospaceinc.com/ http://www.switchboard.com\nThe entire USA/Canada Yellow and White Pages has been made into a database and is available for searching. There's more than 105 million listings. Search by name, phone number, occupation, etc.\nOnce you get a \"hit,\" you can click on a button to see a map of the address; search for their e-mail address; browse addresses in the same neighborhood; obtain county and ZIP+4 information; search for Usenet Newsgroup postings; and get driving directions to the matched address.\nhttp://wyp.net/Search.html http://s12.bigyellow.com/ http://www.bigbook.com/ http://www.iypn.com/ http://att.net/dir800/\nSearch by keyword the index of scholarly internet mailing lists and newsgroups.\ngopher://gopher.usask.ca/77%2F9 2Eindex%2Facad\nWest's Legal Directory (WLD) is a comprehensive directory of U.S. and Canadian law firms, government offices, corporate law offices and lawyers. Search for attorneys and offices by practice type (private, government, corporate, etc.), name, office name, city, state, county, county, etc. Provides biographical data.\nhttp://www.wld.com/\nMapQuest you locate a business, address; or city in the continental U.S. on an interactive map; zoom in on any location in the continental U.S.; add Points of Interest to your maps; and more.\nhttp://www.mapquest.com/\nFor a pesticide database, check out Pesticide Information Service, a group of non-governmental agencies collaborating for pesticide reform. It presents a searchable database of pesticides.\ngopher://gopher.igc.apc.org/11/orgs/panna/ pestis\nEnvirosearch is an information search tool that offers downloadable files on recent environmental and safety standards the U.S. and abroad. Includes the semi-monthly \"Environmental Manager's Compliance Advisor\" newsletter, Environmental acronyms list, recently issued environmental regulations and proposals, international environmental standards, safety standards, GAO environmental reports, Clean Water Act discharge limits and enforcement, etc.\nhttp://www.envirosearch.com/\nThe National Center for Missing and Exploited Children maintains a large database of missing children, with pictures and other details.\nhttp://www.missingkids.org/\nFor state-by-state listing of available sources of vital records check out http://www.medaccess.com/address/vital_toc.htm This database provides state government addresses for birth, marriage, divorce, and death records.\nGPO access: http://thorplus.lib.purdue.edu/gpo/ http://ssdc.ucsd.edu/gpo/multi.html http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/ aaces001.html\nAccess to the following searchable databases: Congressional Bills, Congressional Calendars, Congressional Directory, Congressional Documents, Congressional Record and Index, Congressional Reports, Economic Indicators, Economic Report of the President, Federal Register, General Accounting Office, Government Information Locator Service, U.S. Government Manual, History of Bills, House Rules Manual, Interior Reports, Privacy Act Issuances, Public Laws, Unified Agenda and U.S. Code.\nThe U.S. General Accounting Office now offers free on-line access to the GAO reports and investigations on everything from HMOs to immigrant students and government operations. http://www.gao.gov/ David Milliron can be reached at (703) 276-5805, or send e-mail to dmilliro@gcil.gannett.com",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
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      "slug": "1996-october-environmental-sites-that-cook",
      "score": 0.298
    },
    {
      "slug": "1995-december-tracking-nonprofits",
      "score": 0.256
    },
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      "slug": "1997-decemberjanuary-drivers-education",
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  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-july-data-you-can-access.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1996-july-data-you-can-access.json"
}