Open Data/RTI: “Right to Data = RTI + open formats+ reuse,” according to a blog post by Silvana Fumega, one of several speakers on a panel on open data and RTI at the International Open Data Conference being held in Toronto, Canada, May 28 and 29. Some of the sessions (but not this one it seems) are being webcast. Fumega’s formula is intended to help “understand the Right to Data advocacy work.” She concludes:
To sum up all the points in this long post, advocating for a right to data is much more than just the access to the data. It involves primarily the possibility of reuse as the value added to the data (towards a vast set of different goals) and, therefore, it is much more than an article on the current RTI legislation. To be effective a regulation on the right to data needs to address not only the access (sometimes already covered by RTI legislation) but also most importantly on lifting the barriers for reuse (copyright, licenses, formats).
New Book: Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists by Matt Burgess is written “to inform, instruct and inspire journalists” on the investigative possibilities offered by the FOIA. ”The book is brimming with illuminating and relevant examples of the Freedom of Information Act being used by journalists, alongside a range of helpful features….”
Ireland: The 3rd edition of Maeve McDonagh’s book Freedom of Information Law has just been published. “The new edition analyses the Irish Freedom of Information Act 2014 referring to decisions of the Information Commissioner and of the courts as well as to overseas FOI decisions. A chapter is devoted to each exemption provision and the book also covers the separate legislative regime for access to environmental information.” McDonagh teaches law at University College Cork.
Australia: The Information Commissioner John McMillan remains at his post, but because of government defunding of his office, he’s working from home, the Sydney Morning Herald reports in a detailed commentary by Tim Smith, David Harper, Stephen Charles, former justices of the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Taiwan: The mayor of Taipei “promised to disclose as many city documents as possible, saying government transparency is essential to prevent graft,” according to an article in The China Post. “Ko said his administration is mulling how it can disclose information concerning some of the controversial city projects co-developed or outsourced to private firms under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.”
Canada: Suzanne Legault, Information Commissioner of Canada, tabled a special report (here) in Parliament saying the Royal Canadian Mounted Police destroyed records in the Long-gun Registry and she objected to a bill that would retroactively exempt the Registry from the FOIA.
Central Bank Transparency: Reuters columnist Swaha Pattanaik writes that some transparency by central banks is good, but “more is not always better.”
Bangladesh: The Information Commission has submitted its Annual Report for 2014 to President Abdul Hamid, according to The Financial Express. The chief information commissioner reported that there are currently 21,000 officials assigned across the country to provide information to the people. Some 69,000 requests of information have been met and the commission settled some 920 complaints of such requests being unmet. The report does not yet appear to be posted on the Information Commission website.
Pakistan: A comparative chart of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Schedule of Cost for providing Information by the Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives. Also, the official schedule of charges in Punjab and the Punjab RTI rules.
European Union: European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has opened an investigation into the transparency of “trilogues” — informal negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission aimed at reaching early agreements on new EU legislation. The opening letters in this investigation are available here. She also issued her 2014 annual report (here.)
European Union: Steve Peers in EU Law Analysis writes: “Following the annulment of the EU’s data retention Directive by the CJEU, an obvious important question arises: are national data retention laws subject to the same ruling of the Court? The purpose of this post is to set out the reasons why they are.”
India: Economics & Politics Weekly runs an editorial beginning: “The RTI is virtually being strangled to death by deliberate delays in appointments.”
United States: “Finding data on federal grants and contracts awarded to states and congressional districts, local governments, nonprofit organizations, contractors, and other eligible entities may present challenges,” a new report from the Congressional Research Service observes. Tools to help are cataloged and described by CRS in Tracking Federal Funds: USAspending.gov and Other Data Sources.
Australia: The Department of Agriculture gets criticized for conducting a $80,000 review of how it handled FOI requests, according to a report in The Age.
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