Hacker News Reader

I think it's a reference to LexisNexis which still exists today in a similar capacity. Back in the day (1990s), it was an online service to search for and read virtually any legal or news article among many other things. It was very expense, but was usually access thru a corporate or educational institution's license.

If you live in the US, they have a file on you and it's probably very thick. A credit report will run a couple of pages long, the LexusNexus report on me (a complete nobody) cost them about $8 to mail. It contained many errors, mostly about property I don't own but also about an insurance claim I never made.

Like your credit report, you can get a free copy by writing them and requesting a copy. IIRC when I did it a few years ago, I had to make the request in writing, I wasn't able to order it online, at least not for free.

They ought to be liable for those errors.

Very expensive research tool places like large law firms would use.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LexisNexis