Open Data: The Open Knowledge Foundation announces on what datasets will be including in the 2015 Global Open Data Index (GODI). The additions follow consultations and discussions on the Index forum. An invitation has been issued to make submissions to the index by Sept. 20.
Pakistan: The Punjab Information Commission summons a top official of the Governor House to explain failure in providing information about its expenditures, reports Waseem Abbasi in The News.
Philippines: Members of the “Right to Know. Right Now! Coalition carry a coffin symbolizing the death of the FOI bill during a protest march, according to the Manila Times.
United States: A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rules that the Federal Trade Commission and a district court were too dismissive of fee waivers sought by a conservative group, reports Politico. “The decision amounts to a blunt rebuff of an apparent drive by some in the Obama administration to more closely scrutinize fee waiver requests and to incorporate an analysis of what a requester is seeking when considering whether to grant the requester “news media” status, which sharply reduces fees.” Also see analysis by Holand & Knight.
United States: Journalist Alex Howard examines in detail US efforts to improve police data. Also see article on body camera disclosure policies by Sean McMinn in the Independent Mail.
Isle of Man: IOM Today and IsleofMan.com say the first part of the FOI Act will come into force Feb. 1. At first, residents will only be able to submit FOI requests to the Cabinet Office and to the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture . Because of the gradual rollout, the law will not be fully in force until Feb. 1, 2018. Requests may still be made under a 1996 law.
Turks and Caicos Islands: The House of Assembly adjourns without discussing a proposed FOI ordinance, according to an article in Caribbeannewsnow.com.
Malaysia: The Malaysian government is having “a difficult job managing public calls for transparency,” according to a commentary in The Malay Mail by Saleena Saleem, an associate research fellow, and David Han Guo Xiong, a research analyst, with the Malaysia programme at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.
Trade Talk Transparency: Maira Sutton of the Electronic Frontier Foundation describes documents released under the US FOIA regarding the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA).that show “just how cooperatively the USTR works with corporate lobbyists.”
Open Contracting: Gavin Hayman, Executive Director of the Open Contracting Partnership, writes “The More the Merrier? How much information on government contracts should be published and who will use it.”
India: Newlaundry reports on an investigation by Sandeep Pai based on many RTI requests about advertising and sponsorships by “public sector undertakings” (PSU) like Coal India or National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The investigation shows how “Members of Parliament (MPs), ministers and leaders across parties use their official positions to cull favours in the form of advertisements or funds from PSUs for organisations, publications and events with which they are directly or indirectly associated.”
India: Madhya Pradesh will soon allow online RTI applications, the second state to do so after Maharashtra, according to the Hindustan Times.
United Kingdom: The Information Commissioner’s Office orders Google Inc. to remove links to news stories about one of the first cases under Europe’s right to be forgotten doctrine, according to a BloombergBNA article and a Wall Street Journal report.
United States: A study by Syracuse’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse shows that with the exception of The New York Times, no legacy news organization sued the government under FOIA in 2014. But where print newspapers have largely faded away, digital-only news organizations—including some that are foolishly caricatured as mere meme generators and gossip mags—are thankfully starting to spend the time and money to fill the gap,” writes Trevor Timm in the Columbia Journalism Review.
United States: An infographic on how to file a FOIA request by Logikcull, an e-discovery services company.
United States: An official introductory interview with the new FOIA ombudsman, James Holzer.
Mexico: A diploma in “Open Government” is offered by the Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP), in coordination with the Federal Institute of Access to Information and Data Protection and the Commission for Access to Public Information and Protection of Personal Data of the State.
India: The Hans India’s Md Nizamuddin reports: “With inordinate delay in disposal of the RTI applications, the appellants continue to spend anxious moments for months together. They blame the laxity on the part of the Commissioners, some of whom are spending less than 10 days in a month for hearing the cases.”
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