For what it's worth, (if anything), I believe the policy of the museum I work for is that the registry database has considerable commercial value, being the fruits of many decades of government funded research and collection. Therefore, while we provide a free public service for small scale inqirys, anyone who wishes a copy of any significant part of the registers can pay for it. (I'm in Australia, and over here the political atmosphere is tending strongly to the feeling that museums and similar institutions should generate revenue.) In addition, there are privacy issues involved. A landowner or grazier might be willing to allow a museum survey team on his land for a fossil search for example, but if the location of the fossil deposits on his land becomes common knowledge to rockhounds through the actions of the museum, his tolerance might rapidly diminish. In addition, fragile or sacred sites should not be widely advertised, in the interest of their own preservation. I hope this is of some small help. Peter Volk