What’s New
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12 November 2013
Challenges Faced in Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua
By Alejandro Martínez This article was published Nov. 11 on the Knight Center Journalism in the Americans blog. After decades of a culture of virtually impenetrable secrecy within the Mexican government, in 2002 Mexico passed the Federal Access to Information and Personal Data Protection Act. Since then, it has become an often-cited model of how other […]
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8 November 2013
Zambia Hires Consultant to Evaluate FOI Legislation
The Zambian government is evaluating how to harmonize a potential freedom of information law with other laws, according to a top official who attended the Open Government Partnership summit in London. Speaking at a press conference Nov. 31, Mwsansa Kapeya, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, said a local consultant has been hired for […]
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8 November 2013
Chile’s Supreme Court Orders Disclosure of Official E-mails
The Chilean Supreme Court of Justice has ordered the Ministry of Transport to release e-mails from public officials related to the modification of the public urban transport system in Santiago. The Supreme Court decided Nov. 6 that the disclosure of the e-mails about the Transantiago contracts doesn´t violate the privacy of the officials and that […]
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8 November 2013
U.S. Plans to Create FOI Advisory Group
The United States will create a “FOIA Modernization” advisory group, according to the Oct. 31 preview of its second Open Government Partnership action plan. The government also plans to develop a consolidated online portal for making FOIA requests. In addition, steps will be taken to develop a core federal FOIA regulation, while still allowing for […]
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8 November 2013
FOI Notes: Funding, Open Data, More Open Data
Funding: Making All Voices Count: A Grand Challenge for Development announces its first ever Global Innovation Competition. At the event, the Making All Voices team emphasized that the competition is seeking new, original and innovative ideas from anywhere in the world, from companies, organisations, government agencies and individuals. The Competition opens on November 12, 2013 […]
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2 November 2013
Ideas Emerge to Bring Open Data, RTI Efforts Closer
Suggestions for improving cooperation between the open data and right to information communities emerged during a session Oct. 31 at the Open Government Partnership summit in London. The ideas came during a temperate discussion among persons from each community. One suggestion was to work together to compile example of access laws being used to get data […]
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1 November 2013
OGP Concludes Summit With New Commitments, Goals
By Toby McIntosh Thirty-seven members of the Open Government Partnership offered “brand new commitments” during the Oct. 31 – Nov. 1 London OGP summit. The list was announced near the end of the summit. Also revealed was the addition of Sierra Leone as the 62nd member after passage of a freedom of information law made them […]
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1 November 2013
First Evaluations Spark Reflection on OGP Effort
By Toby McIntosh The official launch Nov. 1 of the reports by independent reviewers about the national action plans of the founding members of the Open Government Partnership provides preliminary answers to several key questions about the OGP experiment Is it making a difference? How is the review process doing? The first eight evaluation reports […]
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31 October 2013
Indonesia, Mexico Outline Future Plans as OGP Chairs
Representatives of Indonesia and Mexico, the two countries that will chair the Open Government Partnership in the coming year, outlined their leadership goals at a session Oct. 31 at the OGP London summit. Tara Hidayat, deputy IV in the Indonesian Presidential Delivery Unit, said goals will be to maintain the health and ensure the sustainability […]
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31 October 2013
OGP Working Group on ATI Develops Tentative Agenda
An access to information working group was formed Oct. 31 in connection with the Open Government Partnership summit in London. The creation of three subgroups was proposed designed, to correspond to the stages of the OGP process: – To help government comply with the OGP access eligibility criteria and to consider strengthening the OGP access […]
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31 October 2013
OGP Opens Summit With Challenges, New Promises
The Open Government Partnership kicked off its second summit with more than 1,000 delegates gathered in London to share ideas and discuss national commitments. With New Zealand becoming the 61st member, the two-year old multi-stakeholder group was praised by speakers who also set new challenges for a maturing organization. A few OGP countries began to […]
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30 October 2013
Sierra Leone Passes Freedom of Information Bill; Now 96
The Sierra Leone Parliament Oct. 29 passed a Right to Access Information Act. See text here. “What is left is the presidential assent and we hope President Koroma will do that speedily,” commented FOI activist Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai. “This is a great victory to all of us and we must certainly enjoy it,” he said. […]
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30 October 2013
OGP Steering Committee Defers Civic Space Discussion
The Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership Oct. 29 decided against establishing a task force on how the OGP should address emerging constraints on the media and civil society organizations. The discussion of protecting “civic space” is expected to continue, however, according to members of the Steering Committee representing civil society organizations, CSO members […]
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25 October 2013
London OGP Summit Will Be Coming Out Party for CSOs
By Toby McIntosh 19 months ago in Brazil, at the first Open Government Partnership summit, 150 delegates from civil society organizations (CSOs) finally got together as a group, very late in day on the last day of the conference, tired and somewhat frustrated. “Welcome to a work in progress,” began Warren Krafchik, the new OGP co-chair […]
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25 October 2013
Japan Moving to Pass National Security Bill
The Japanese Cabinet has approved a controversial bill to protect state secrets. The current developments are described in a Reuters article by Linda Sieg and Kiyoshi Takenaka and in Japan Times by Ayako Mie. The bill is expected to pass later this year. A broad perspective is provided an analysis article by Lawrence Repeta, who teaches law at […]
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25 October 2013
Philippines Panel Assigns FOI Bill to Working Group
The Philippines House Public Information Committee Oct. 23 formed a technical working group to consolidate the 19 different freedom of the information bills before it. Committee Chairman Jorge Almonte wants to rename the legislation “access to information,” a proposal that has generated some negative reaction, according to a report in The Inquirer and another in […]
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25 October 2013
FOI Notes: Aid Transparency, Open Data, United States
Aid Transparency: Information about aid spending is steadily becoming more available, but it also needs to become more useful, concludes a report released by Publish What You Fund. For the first time, a U.S. agency – the Millennium Challenge Corporation – ranks top, scoring 89%, more than double the average score. Global Transparency Week: See […]
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24 October 2013
OGP to Form Group on Private Sector Involvement
The Open Government Partnership plans to form a working group to explore ways for the private sector to become more involved, FreedomInfo.org has learned. The ad hoc group will be announced next week at the OGP summit meeting in London Oct. 31- Nov. 1. It will be jointly chaired by: – Oliver Bell, chief technology […]
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24 October 2013
Sierra Leone Aims to Join OGP After Passing FOI Bill
Sierra Leone is hoping to join the Open Government Partnership soon and is pushing through a freedom of information bill in order to qualify for membership, according to informed sources. A bill will pass on Oct. 29, a top overnment official told Freedominfo.org. That timing would coincide with the OGP annual meeting in London Oct. 31-Nov. […]
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23 October 2013
U.S. to Make FOI Reform Major Part of OGP Plan
By Toby McIntosh The U.S. government intends to create a national portal for making freedom of information requests and move toward a single, national FOIA regulation, according to persons briefed this week and government officials. These and other FOIA-related changes would be made part of the second U.S. national action plan as a member of the […]