Environment: David Banisar, senior legal counsel for Article 19, writes that environmental problems in the Middle go back to “a failure of governance and accountability in governments and companies.” He says,” They go about their daily business with little or no notification to those most harmed by their activities and few ways for the communities to do something about it.”
United States: Freedom of Information Act requests for data discovered through National Security Agency surveillance operations are denied. A blog post by Micah Greene says: “My request was rejected because the existence or non-existence of such records is classified. I’m not allowed to know what they have on me in PRISM, or even if they have anything (I’m pretty damn certain that they do.). A similar experience described by David Urbanski.
United States: “By the standards of other countries, the U.S. approach to official secrecy is ferocious,” a Miami Herald article says, citing an analysis of 20 European countries by Sandra Coliver, a legal expert with the Open Society Justice Initiative.
OGP Commentary: Canadian Blogger David Eaves says there are “important reasons” civil society members are concerned about the entrance requirements for the Open Government Partnership.
Commentary: A blog post by World Bank staffer Anupama Dokeniya observes in part: “Surprisingly for an idea that uses up so much bandwidth, and embodies so much promise, there is still relatively little research about the kind broader institutional systems and political dynamics necessary for transparency policies to work have an impact – what in jargony terms might be called context or enabling environment.”
Transparency: The Guardian summarizes an online chat about the prerequisites for transparency.
Russia: The Freedom of Information Foundation writes about an assessment of regional government websites, reporting an increase in information linked to cooperation between experts and government officials.
Webinar: The Open Government Partnership and the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency announce a webinar to introduce the OGP Fiscal Openness Working Group on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at 8:00 am EST. Register here.
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