An article in the International Herald Tribune (February 22, 2011) describes an effort by the US Congress to eliminate funding for a shared public database listing all injury reports for products like cribs, strollers etc. But opponents worry that the data will be spurious but cause costs for manufacturers.  Are the benefits of visibility of defects across manufacturers a benefit to the industry by avoiding erroneous designs ? Is the pooled data a benefit to the industry even if some of the data is flawed ? Is this the kind of regulatory reform that the President should seek to eliminate ?  From a consumer’s perspective, is this the shared public data a useful source – just like the hotel reports filed by travelers in TripAdvisor ?