Principally, yes...
However:
It's actually been long-standing and, I find, quite reasonable practise that give the principal investigator and affiliated researchers exclusive right for 1-2 years.
The reason is so they can get first pick at results, get their papers out, prepare for the Nobel acceptance speech, etc.
Then the data becomes public - if it was funded by the public.
Elsevier is simply a leech that interposed itself here - and if they Wiki article can be believed with less than ethical means. To hell with them, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I've worked closely with scientists in the Antarctic - they are often down there for long periods of time collecting their data. If they had to make it available immediately, while they're still "stuck" down on the Ice, they would come back to others having published the all-important papers, while they froze their butts off.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
