Latest Features
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9 October 2014
Is alleged misconduct by a public official deserving of privacy protection?
By Peter Timmins The author writes the Australian website Open and Shut, where this article was published Oct. 6. A companion article Oct. 7 says that when it comes to the the performance of normal governmental functions, sensitivity about disclosing names of officials “should usually take a back seat to transparency, responsibility and accountability. I’d […]
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8 October 2014
DRC Civil Society Mobilizing to Demand ATI Law
By Longendja Isa Mboyo Henri Christin The author is the Executive Director of CODHOD, Executive Director of COLLECTIF 24. This is a chapter in a recently issued State of Right to Information in Africa Report 2014 and is reprinted with permission. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) Apart from the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the […]
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7 October 2014
Mexico’s Federal Prosecutor Must End Secrecy over San Fernando Massacres
By Jesse Franzblau and Emi MacLean Franzblau is a writer working with the National Security Archive, an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. MacLean is a legal officer for freedom of information and expression with the Open Society Justice Initiative. This article first appeared Sept. 25 on […]
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1 October 2014
New Paraguay FOI Law Culmination of Campaign
By Jonathon David Orta This report was published by the Knight Center for Journalism at the University of Texas and is reprinted with permission. On Sept. 18, Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes signed the country’s first freedom of information (FOI) law, making it the 100th country in the world to pass similar legislation. Officially titled the […]
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25 September 2014
Deadlocked EU transparency reform finds new impetus
By James Crisp This article first appeared in EurActiv.com. At the end of the article are many links. EXCLUSIVE: The new European Commission must look again at the European Union’s deadlocked transparency regulation and push through long-delayed reforms, the EU Ombudsman, MEPs and activists have said. Embarrassing court defeats for the European Commission and Council, […]
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25 September 2014
European Union Institutions Need Transparency
By Sophie in ‘t Veld The author is a member of the EU Parliament from the Dutch social liberal party Democrats 66 and of the ALDE group in the European Parliament. This article first appeared in EurActiv.com. Sir Humphrey Appleby to Prime Minister Jim Hacker: “Open government, Prime Minister. Freedom of information. We should always tell the press freely and […]
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25 September 2014
Battling for Right to Know in South Africa
By Catherine Kennedy and Piers Pigou Kennedy is the Director of the South African History Archive. Pigou is a member of the SAHA board of trustees. This commentary was published first on Sept. 23 in The Mail and Guardian. As information activists around the world mark International Right to Know Day on Sunday, there seems […]
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18 September 2014
UN Lacks of Freedom of Information
By Matthew Russell Lee The author is senior reporter at Inner City Press, which focuses on the UN, where this article first appeared. It references a recently started organization, the Free United Nations Coalition for Access (FUNCA). UNITED NATIONS, September 15 — The UN’s lack of accountability, from bringing cholera to Haiti to using as “peacekeepers” […]
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16 September 2014
New India Government Disappoints on Transparency
By Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri The writers are social activists working on issues of transparency and accountability in governance. This commentary first appeared Sept. 12 in Indian Express. Achhe din, meaning good days, are coming was the slogan of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 Indian general election, coined by BJP’s Prime Ministerial […]
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11 September 2014
Praise for New Access Law in Mexican State of Coahuila de Zaragoza
The following report on the new law in the Mexican state of Coahuila was prepared by the state information commission. Along our history and mainly in the last decade, the Mexican society is fighting to demonstrate its indeclinable will of progressing in our country’s democratic life, developing and strengthening the fundamental principles of plurality, freedom of expression […]
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10 September 2014
Why FOIA’s Loophole Needs Legislative Suture
By Lauren Harper The author is a research assistant at the National Security Archive focusing on FOIA advocacy and open government, as well as on U.S.-Iraq relations. This article originally appeared in The Brechner Report. The Tampa Tribune reporter Howard Altman submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Veterans Affairs earlier this year to learn the […]
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28 August 2014
Mexican Migration Agency Makes First Disclosure on Massacre
By Jesse Franzblau This report first appeared in Migration Declassified on Aug. 20. Franzblau is a policy analyst working on freedom of information projects in an independent capacity. He specializes in the use of FOI laws in Latin America, and is a regular contributor to the Migration Declassified project. Mexico’s federal migration agency has for the […]
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28 August 2014
How to Appoint a New Indian Chief Information Commissioner
By Shailesh Gandhi The author served as a Central Information Commissioner in India from Sept. 18, 2008, to July 6, 2012. This commentary appeared Aug. 27 in RTI India. A Committee comprising PM and the Leader of Opposition, recommends CICs names. Since, at present there is no Leader of Opposition, a recently-retired CIC has not […]
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21 August 2014
Bangladesh Needs Transparency in Picking New Commissioners
By Suchismita Goswami The author is Project Officer, Access to Information Programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. This article appeared The Daily Star Aug. 21. Two out of three posts at the Bangladesh Information Commission are lying vacant for the past month. The government knew they were falling vacant when information commissioners Sadeka Halim and MA […]
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21 August 2014
Network Rail to Be Blocked From UK FOI
By Mathew Burgess The author writes the blog FOI Directory where this article first appeared Aug. 15. Since publication, the Train Drivers’ Union issued a statement. Network Rail is due to be reclassified as a public body on 1st September however it is being reported that David Cameron will block its inclusion in the Freedom […]
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20 August 2014
How Serious Were Japan’s Information Leaks?
By Lawrence Repeta The author teaches law at Meiji University and is a regular FreedomInfo.org contributor. Japan in 2013 passed an Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets and is now developing the implementing regulations. The law was recently critiqued by the United National Human Rights Committee. (See Freedominfo.org report.) Does Japan really have an information security problem? […]
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20 August 2014
The CIA Resisting Disclosure About Policy Change
By Nate Jones The author is a staff member at the National Security Archive, the parent organization of FreedomInfo.org, and writes the blog Unredacted where this article appeared Aug. 19 under the title “The CIA Misapplies FOIA Exemptions to Continue its Covert Attack on Mandatory Declassification Review. And Why it Matters.” On Friday September 23, […]
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14 August 2014
Making Progress on Freedom of Information in Africa
By Chidi Odinkalu and Maxwell Kadiri The authors are with the Open Society Justice Initiative. This article was published Aug. 13. Odinkalu is senior legal officer for the Africa regional work of the Open Society Justice Initiative. Kadiri is associate legal officer on the Africa regional work of the Open Society Justice Initiative. In the decade […]
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14 August 2014
Court Finds No Need? to Clarify Scope of Request
By Harry Hammitt The author is the publisher of Access Reports, a biweekly newsletter on US and Canadian FOI developments. While disposing of most issues left outstanding in a series of lawsuits brought by University of Virginia graduate student Katelyn Sack, Judge Emmet Sullivan has inadvertently exposed the difficulty in making FOIA amendments designed to […]
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7 August 2014
Australian Commissioner Exempts Incoming Government Briefs
By Peter Timmins The following article appeared Aug. 4 in Open and Shut, Timmins’ blog about FOI in Australia. The decisions by Australian Information Commissioner Professor McMillan in Parnell & Dreyfus, and Crowe on the exempt status of incoming government briefs (IGB) under the Freedom of Information Act will please those in government who argue […]