Simon, in an e-mail you said...

>...We (Hugh and I) suspect we could full automate a lot of this by using
>electronic copies of the ASC database, which are likely to be obtainable
>from the ASC as they are effectively a public register.

It would be possible to do this, unfortunately, the ASC (and the state
business registeries) currently charge for access to their registers. I use
their remote database "ASCOT" on a semi-regular basis and no enquiries are
supplied free of charge. Basic pricing for a query is in the $12 - $20
range. Not cheap.

This seems to be an artifact left over from early electronic database days
- someone from the ASC has told me that there is currently a push to place
all of the information on the Internet eventually. However, given the
amount of money that seems to be made from ASCOT and the reluctance of the
federal government to give away anything for free, I can't see an obvious
cash cow like this being let loose on the free ranging pastures of the
Internet.

Cheers,

Boz

Boz Cappie
Dept of Social Communication and Journalism
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
University of Technology
Sydney
Australia
ph: + 61 2 9514 1955
e-mail: B.Cappie§hum.uts.edu.au
--- reality is what you can get away with ---