Latin America: Alianza Regional has issued a regional report called “Saber Más III” regarding access to public information and protection of personal data. The report (in Spanish) explains the relationship and coexistence of access to public information and ensuring the protection of personal data. Fourteen countries participated in creating this report, represented by member organizations of the Alianza, this time adding the organization Article XIX – Brazil with a detailed report of the current Brazilian situation on access to information. Access-Info from Spain also participated showing the balance of these rights in Europe; and the Cyrus Vance Center with a technical-legal report on the relationship between access to information and personal data protection in the United States.
EU: “Europe’s secret international negotiations violate EU law,” an analysis by Professor Deirdre Curtin, Professor of European Law and Director of Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance at the University of Amsterdam.
Map: The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has produced an interactive map that “makes exploring access to information in the Commonwealth Member States a visual experience.”
RTK Day: A Flicker account has been created to collect photos. The name of the profile is Freedom of Information Advocates Network and the group is called, Right to Know Day 2011. The network is also seeking posters and banners and has the first draft of the map of the activities that happened on Right to Know Day.
China: Publish What You Fund recently published a paper with the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University focusing on aid transparency and Chinese foreign assistance.
China: “Freedom of Information Reform in China: Information Flow Analysis,” by Weibing Xiao, has been published by Routledge. “The book argues that it is necessary to reassess the widely divergent origins of FOI reform in China, and asserts that social, political and legal factors should have central roles in understanding the development of FOI in China.”
Open Data: Chris Taggert blogs about the economics of open data.
India: Reflections on the India RTI law are published on Wall Street Journal blog by journalist Krishnaraj Rao.
United States: “Sunshine as Disinfectant: The Effect of State Freedom of Information Act Laws on Public Corruption,” by Adriana S. Cordis, University of South Carolina Upstate – Johnson College of Business and Economics, and Patrick L. Warren, Clemson University – John E. Walker Department of Economics.
Music: A new FOI song produced in Armenia for the Right to Know day/2011. The song was produced by the Armenian band VOX and live performed during the “Golden Key and Rusty Lock” FOI Annual Ceremony of the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia. Here is the Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJWYv_9XVos
Here is the English translation of the lyrics:
I don’t want you to ever lie to me.
Let me hear the truth, no matter how bitter it is.
There are problems that we need to solve together,
Because if you keep hiding them, we will all fail.
So I fight and I demand:
Give me info…
Undisguised and first-hand.
I have been dreaming to live in a just society.
But justice and lies can’t co-exist.
I’m an intelligent being and I long for freedom.
But I need some info on how to be free.
So I fight and I demand:
Give me info…
Undisguised and first-hand.
Let’s save the truth from the chains of deception.
Information is the light that will reign again.
Information is our strength and our might.
Together, we can change the life in our society.
So I fight and I demand:
Give me info…
Undisguised and first-hand.
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