What’s New
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10 May 2013
Budget Cutbacks Affecting Cayman Island Commissioner
The Cayman Islands information commissioner has reported that “severe” budgets cuts are preventing checks on whether public officials are complying with the freedom of information law, according to an article by Brent Fuller in The Compass. The cuts have been “seriously felt” this year by the five- person information commissioner’s office which now lacks a […]
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3 May 2013
Hungary Restricts FOI Law; OGP Membership Questioned
The Hungarian Parliament has adopted restrictive amendments to its freedom of information law that are being criticized by pro-transparency activists. The main change would allow the government to reject “excessive” requests for information, a standard critics called too vague. In addition, the changes appear to make the FOI law not applicable when disclosure policies are included […]
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3 May 2013
India Close to Choosing Who Will Do Study of RTI Law
The Indian government is close to choosing who will conduct a major review of the fight to information law. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has shortlisted 16 organizations for the “360 degree study,” according to a report, with the names, on the website of the RTI Foundation of India. The selected organizations have […]
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3 May 2013
Thwarted Liberian Group Seeks Asset Disclosures
A Liberian group has gone to court in an effort to compel the release of the asset declarations of public officials after being frustrated by the anti-corruption commission and the information commissioner. The Center for Media Studies and Peace Building (CEMESP) on April 29 filed a writ of Mandamus with the Supreme Court to compel […]
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3 May 2013
FOI Notes: Education, Asset Disclosure, Procurement
Education: The Hungarian grassroots student union Hallgatói Hálózat (Student Network) has started a blog that curates freedom of information requests related to higher education. The blog, titled Transparent Education, is using the Hungarian public freedom of information request service KiMitTud to track down the allegations of misuse of funds by university student governments. The blog’s author is Dániel G. Szabó. […]
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2 May 2013
Reforming FOI Laws in Asia Urged to Help Environment
Asian countries need to improve their freedom of information laws as one component of providing better environmental information to the public, according to a statement issued May 1 from a conference in Jakarta attended by “representatives of governments, international organizations, civil society organizations, and academia from China, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Philippines and Thailand.” The issuance […]
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30 April 2013
U.S. Supreme Court Allows State to Limit Use of FOIA
The U.S. Supreme Court April 29 ruled that a state may prohibit non-state residents from using the state freedom of information law. The unanimous opinion upheld restrictions by the state of Virginia in a case, McBurney v. Young, No. 12-17, brought by a California man seeking property records for commercial clients and a Rhode Island […]
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26 April 2013
FOI Notes: Open Data, Open Contracting, Commentary
Commentary: Martin Tisne writes in his blog about why open government groups are not working better together? Much abbreviated answers: different languages, etc.; competition for limited resources; and “coordination, partnership is hard work!” He asks what can be done. Open Contracting: A blog post from Open Contracting on developing standards. Germany: The FOIA law is […]
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26 April 2013
India Issues Guidance on Doing Proactive Disclosure
The Indian government has issued guidelines for the proactive disclosure of information, but missed a few key items, according to a leading Indian advocacy group. The guidelines were prepared the Department of Personnel and Training with advice from a task force. The goal was to enhance implementation of the proactive disclosure obligations under Section 4 of […]
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26 April 2013
Monitoring Study Finds Poor Response Rates in Italy
The largest-ever audit of how responsive the Italian government is to requests for information has delivered an answer: “extremely low.” The study was jointly conducted by Diritto Di Sapere and Access-Info Europe. Some 300 requests were filed, but less than one quarter of the requests resulted in information being provided. “Only 27% of requests led […]
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26 April 2013
South African Assembly OKs Protection of Information Bill
South Africa’s National Assembly April 25 approved a modified, but still contentious, Protection of State Information Bill. The bill, three years in the making, passed on a vote of 189-74, with one abstention. Opponents have long indicated that they will test its constitutionality in court and reiterated their intention to do so. “The fight is […]
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25 April 2013
Scottish Agencies Consult Private Counsel for FOI
Scottish agencies have spent more than £400,000 ($520,000) for advice from private attorneys on how to respond to freedom of information requests, according to the New Scotsman April 21. More than 60 Scottish authorities sought counsel on how to apply the FOI exemptions and on reviews and appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner, the newspaper’s […]
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25 April 2013
U.S. Cybersecurity Bill Includes FOI Exemption
Legislation recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), would provide companies liability protection for companies sharing cyberthreat information with the federal government. It also would exempt all such shared information from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. The bill is being criticized largely for allowing […]
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25 April 2013
U.S. Enhances Archive of FOI Court Decisions, Summaries
The U.S. Justice Department Office of Information Policy has launched a new page containing summaries of significant court decisions on freedom of information, according to an announcement. The enhanced Court Decisions page “adds two powerful features for viewing and searching through our case summaries while continuing to allow users to view these summaries by topic […]
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25 April 2013
Taiwan Journalists Unaware of FOI Law, Article Says
Journalists in Taiwan are not aware of the national freedom of information law, according to an article by an American journalist who attended a two-day data journalism seminar in Taiwan, but the open dta movement is growing and information is getting out in unofficial ways. During the workshop, we talked about how to obtain data, […]
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24 April 2013
Danish RTI Amendments Get Poor Review From Raters
Denmark’s proposed changes to its right to information law are regressive and will not fix “major problems” in the current system, according to one of two organizations that produce the major international rating of RTI laws. In particular, modifying certain exceptions would weaken the Danish law, according to an analysis by the Centre for Law […]
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23 April 2013
Article 19 Criticizes Draft Moroccan Access Law
The proposed Moroccan access to information law has many good features but suffers from a “grossly overbroad” set of exceptions, according to a critique by the London-based freedom of expression group Article 19. The bill (in Arabic and in English) was recently put out for public comment. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) Article 19’s analysis (in […]
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23 April 2013
Amended State Secrecy Bill Nears Passage in South Africa
A modified version of the Protection of State Information Bill appears on the verge of passing in South Africa. The National Assembly may take up the bill April 25 following the April 22 approval by an ad hoc committee. The committee endorsed amendments made by the other body of parliament, the National Council of Provinces. […]
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22 April 2013
Tonga to Consider Passing FOI Law, PM Vaipulu Says
Tonga will hold public consultations in July and August on a freedom of information bill, Acting Prime Minister Hon. Samiu Vaipulu said April 22. He was the keynote speaker at the opening of a three-day “Rights to Information in Tonga Workshop – Freedom of Information Policy Awareness.” Freedom of Information is a tool towards achieving the Millennium […]
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21 April 2013
Two Indian States to Issue Lists of Prisoners on Trial
The chief information commissioner of the Indian state of Maharashtra has ordered the disclosure of the names of prisoners awaiting trial, so-called “undertrials,” who have served half or more of the maximum prison term specified for the charges they face. State chief information commissioner (CIC) Ratnakar Gaikwad directed the preparation of such a list under […]