OGP: The next OGP summit will be held in Paris Dec. 7-9, announces the French government, the incoming OGP government co-chair. Proposals for programs are invited.
India: “Eleven years since the path-breaking legislation Right to Information (RTI) Act came into force, more than 300 activists seeking information against government officials, local contractors, politicians, land mafia and other vested interests have been attacked, harassed or murdered. As many as 48 people have lost their lives since 2008 as per data available with dna. The data shows the RTI activists are virtual sitting ducks.” So begins an article in dna by Iftikhar Gilani.
European Union: Article 19, the Bulgarian Access to Information Programme and Társaság a Szabadságjogokért (Hungarian Civil Liberties Union), have submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), regarding the case of Satakunnan Markkinporssi Oy and Satamedia Oy v Finland. The ECtHR is to decide whether prohibiting the republication of citizens tax information, where that information has previously been published by the State, is compatible with the Article 10 rights to free expression and freedom of information.
United Kingdom: The government issues the latest quarterly and annual statistics on FOI performance by central government departments for 2015 with new graphics. See by Matt Burgess in FOIMan blog. “Across all monitored bodies 47,386 “non-routine” FoI requests were received in 2015,” the report states. “This is a rise of 1% on the previous year, but still below the peak in number of FoI requests in 2013 at 51,696.”
United States: The FOIA Project now includes cases back to FY 1993 and FOIA cause of action lawsuit, according to an announcement.
India: “Officials reduce RTI Act to a farce?” – an article in the Times of India about “Nil” responses.
Scotland: Scotland’s FOIA is “in danger of being eroded” as arm’s-length public-sector bodies dodge transparency, the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland, The Herald reports.
India: An employee has no right to misuse the Right to Information to harass colleagues, the CIC says, according to an article in The Hans.
India: “There are a lot of government schemes, but those who are supposed to benefit from them don’t always know their entitlement,” writes Osama Manzar is founder-director of the Digital Empowerment Foundation, in LiveMint
India: Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat reflects in an article in The Daily Excelsior on the seven year anniversary of the Jammu & Kashmir Right to Information Act. Conclusion:
During last 7 years of enactment of RTI Act in J&K there are many success stories wherein people have been benefitted through this legislation. Today ordinary people can question the Government authorities which wasn’t possible earlier. Government has indeed failed to create awareness about this act, but we must be optimistic and should not only blame the Government agencies. NGO’s, Civil Society groups should come forward and work for creating awareness about Right to Information Act (RTI). If NGO’s can work in Education, Environment and other development sectors, why cannot they work for good governance, RTI and other similar issues.
Israel: Reuters reports “Censors, transparency watchdogs spar as Israeli archive goes online.”
United Kingdom: Although Information Commissioner had ruled it was ‘in the public interest’ to release confidential papers about a meeting between the Prince and members of the Government at Clarence House in 2014, lawyers acting for the government succeeded in blocking the release of the material, reports The Daily Mail.
United States: The Rhode Island Supreme Court rules that The Providence Journal can’t see records of a state police investigation into a graduation party hosted by then-Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s son that left an underage girl hospitalized, the Court House News reports. The court said those seeking records to see if government negligence or impropriety is afoot must first “provide some evidence that government negligence or impropriety is afoot.”
United States: The public has a right to government records in electronic format when seeking information under the state’s Right-to-Know law, the New Hampshire Supreme Court unanimously ruled, according to an article in the Union Leader.
United States: The Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that public agencies that violate public records laws are liable for the legal fees of citizens whose only recourse is to file a lawsuit when they are denied access to records. “That is an important victory for openness in an era when public records laws are routinely under attack from the Legislature and many local governments,” editorialized The Tampa Bay Times.
United States: The Supreme Court in the state of New Hampshire rules that the public has a right to government records in electronic format when seeking information under the state’s Right-to-Know law.
United States: The Indiana Supreme Court rules it will not force Indiana lawmakers to release their emails under the state’s public records law.
Corruption: “Eight steps towards ending corruption” a letter to the editor of the Financial Times by leaders of international foundations, includes the point “Corruption hunters should have access to timely, comparable and relevant open data on the issues above as well as the technology that will allow them to work effectively.”
Open Data/Australia: An article in Computer World says the Australian Productivity Commission has released an issues paper “to help guide public input for its inquiry into the availability and use of public and private data.”
Open Data: “Access to open data alone is not enough to encourage the take-up of evidence-based policymaking, according to new research,” according an article in the British publication Civil Service World.
Open Data/Private Sector: A report by the Open Data Institute on three industry-leading enterprises that have embraced an open approach – open source, open standards, open data, open innovation – to help retain their competitive edge
Open Data: “#OpenData is not working. How to fix it?” a summary of 2014 research by Melissa Jo Lee, Jonathan Wareham and Esteve Almirall.
International Relations: Sean P. Larkin writes in Foreign Affairs: “Transparency has long been a rare commodity in international affairs. But today, the forces of technology are ushering in a new age of openness that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago.”
United States: “How a sunken nuclear submarine, a crazy billionaire, and a mechanical claw gave birth to a phrase that has hounded journalists and lawyers for 40 years and embodies the tension between the public’s desire for transparency and the government’s need to keep secrets,” a Radio Lab story (podcast) on what’s known as a “Glomar Response” to FOIA requests.
India: An RTI petition helps end a restriction on sketching historical monuments, according to a story in The Hindu.
Filed under: What's New