Right to Be Forgotten: Google has removed over half a million links from its search engine results in order to comply with a 2014 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that allows users the “right to be forgotten.” Out of 1.2 million URLs that the search giant has evaluated for removal since the launch of their official request process in May 2014, 42.1 percent have been removed from their search results so far, according to Google’s transparency report.
European Union: EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly says she will urge the European Central Bank to stop meeting with market players such as hedge funds shortly before setting policy, reports Reuters.
Open Government Partnership: Tim Hughes explains the methodology of a tool for civil society in OGP countries to assess how open and ambitious their governments were being in developing their National Action Plans. After countless drafts of questions and two rounds of pilots, we’re pleased to finally be able to share what we’ve come up with. Looking at seven countries – Argentina, Columbia, Finland, France, Hungary, Israel and Liberia – researchers reported scores ranging from 28% to 77% of the available score. Hughes is UK Open Government Network coordinator.
Open Data: “Open data policies in Latin America have not yet enabled communities to exercise their right to access to information, consultation and participation with regard to mining or infrastructure projects that affect their surroundings and way of life,” according to an article by Emilio Godoy of the Inter Press Service.
United States: A consortium of 13 newspapers in Virginia evaluates access to government records and finds the state’s four-decade-old Freedom of Information Act is “widely disregarded,” according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. More than half of the law enforcement agencies refused to comply, while others pushed back, according to the Daily Progress, which also reported that about one-quarter of government agencies and school boards would not provide information about public salaries.
United Kingdom: City and country councils in Sussex are breaking the FOI law by replying to hundreds of requests days, weeks and even months late, according to The Argus.
United States: The Media Freedom & Information Access Clinic at Yale University releases a white paper making the case for public access to police body camera footage under the same standards that have long governed FOI access in most U.S. states.
United States: The New York state’s regional council that has awarded nearly $3 billion since 2011 for economic development lacks transparency and doesn’t adequately report on the outcome of various projects, according to a report from the Citizens Budget Commission, the Democrat and Chronicle reports.
Pakistan: A study evaluates performance in implementation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa RTI law. The scorecard was developed by the Centre for Governance and Public Accountability.
Pakistan: A theatre drama for creating awareness about Access to Information Law was put on at Mardan Post Graduate College. Non-governmental organizations Idea Vision and CGPA organized the program, which was attended by a large number of students, according to a RadioTNN report.
India: The Maharashtra state chief information commissioner issues a notice regarding failure to implement the commission’s order that all ministerial offices appoint staff to handle RTI queries, according to the Mumbai Mirror.
Commentary: In Governance magazine, Steven Radelet, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and author of a new book, The Great Surge: The Ascent of the Developing World, discusses the need for further governance reforms, including transparency, at national and multinational levels.
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