Germany: The Federal Administrative Supreme court of Germany forces the German Parliament to give public access to records on “UFOs,” according to post on the UFO Chronicle blog.
United States: The Justice Department releases new guidelines for agencies seeking to close out old requests that the requesters might not be interested in anymore. Building on 2010 guidance, “this guidance sets forth additional limitations on the use of `still-interested’ inquiries to further ensure that such communications are done in a spirit of cooperation and that requesters are not in any way disadvantaged by the practice.”
Open Data: A new discussion paper on “Democratising the Data Revolution” is released by the Open Knowledge Foundation. “It concludes with a series of questions about what practical steps institutions and civil society organisations might take to change what is measured and how, and how these measurements are put to work,” says a blog post.
Kenya: The International Commission of Jurists Kenya Section has issued the results of a survey on the access to information across the 18 national ministries. The group also makes recommendations, especially on training of officials.
India: The Department of Personnel and Training (the nodal department for Right to Information Act, “is itself not disclosing information as laid down under the transparency law,” according to a third-party audit was conducted by the Indian Institute of Public Administration at DoPT’s request that was obtained by The Economic Times.
United States: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) became the first federal agency to release a FOIA mobile application, described in a post on DHS blog and roundly criticized by Alexander Howard in an Huffington Post article. He said the app “actually made the experience of submitting one worse.”
Pakistan: Irregularities in testing for fresh recruits at the Right to Information Commission are likely to undermine transparency and accountability, thus leaving the entire process in question, insiders told The Express Tribune.
Canada: The Toronto Star’s Laurent Bastien Corbeil reports that of 28,000 FOI requests filed between June 2013 and July 2014, only 21 per cent were returned free of redactions. Fifty-seven per cent were censored in some way. The government said it could not find records 18 per cent of the time.
NGOs: Global Integrity issues its new strategic plan.
Open Data: Two open data bills are progressing in California, according to a blog post by Peter Maass of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, One would create a state Chief Data Officer for the state, while the other would require “local government agencies to publish a list of all the information systems they maintain.”
United States: “Don’t Let Police Exempt All Body Camera Video From Disclosure” writes Chad Marlow, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU.
United States: The governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, backs down from a proposal to repeal public records requirements following strong opposition.
United Kingdom: Article on potential FOIA cutbacks in The Daily Mail includes a list of “Scandals We Wouldn’t Have Known About Without FOI Powers.”
India: The Punjab government has directed all departments to upload information regarding applications they receive under the RTI Act and their replies on their websites, Zee News reports.
India: The NGO Maithi Hakku Adayayana Kendra has brought out a book called “Right to Information and Police,” compiled by BH Veeresha, concerning orders from Karnataka information commission on information of police department, according to an article in The Times of India. (FreedomInfo.org was unsuccessful in finding a link to the book. Reader input welcome.)
United States: The Catalyst for Payment Reform and the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute released their third annual report card on state price transparency laws.
United States: The Sunlight Foundation writes about its research into “bright spots” in data on criminal justice.
Filed under: What's New