Posts Tagged ‘privacy’
-
30 October 2014
Indian Order Sparks Debate on Disclosing Requester Info
The recent decision by the Indian government to post online the replies to right to information requests is generating debate over whether requester names should be disclosed. The instruction from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in an Oct. 21 memorandum did not directly address the disclosure of names issue, but those familiar with […]
-
29 October 2014
Court Finds Database Redaction Too Burdensome
By Harry Hammit Hammit is publisher of Access Reports, a bi-monthly report on U.S. and Canadian freedom of information legal developments. A ruling by Judge Rudolph Contreras finding that personally identifying information contained in several FTC complaint databases is protected by Exemption 6 (invasion of privacy), while almost certainly correct based on case law interpretation, […]
-
5 August 2014
Icelandic Group Proposes Drone-Free Country
A nongovernmental organization in Iceland has proposed that the country be a drone-free zone. The International Modern Media Institute said Aug. 2 that plans by the policy to use drones by the police would lead to violations of personal privacy. The plans for police use of drones were reported by the financial newspaper Viðskiptablaðið. The […]
-
8 July 2014
UK ICO Backs Privacy for Most Requester Names
The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office recently said the names of FOI requesters should be kept private, but not always. The comment concerned the three-year practice of the Staffordshire County Council to publish requesters’ letters unredacted. For more read a blog post by Mathew Burgess and another by Jon Baines. The ICO is quoted as […]
-
2 December 2013
UN Committee Urges Review of Surveillance Policies
A United Nations committee Nov. 26 adopted a resolution on “The right to privacy in the digital age.” “Through this resolution, the General Assembly establishes, for the first time, that human rights should prevail irrespective of the medium and therefore need to be protected both offline and online,” Brazil’s representative said, according to a UN […]
-
16 August 2013
FOI Notes: Surveillance, Research, Model OGP; U.S., EU, Australia
Human Rights and Communications Surveillance: Access, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Privacy International are leading a new initiative focused on disseminating new international principles around human rights and communications surveillance.”Called the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance, approximately 100 NGOs from around the world have already shown support and many of […]
-
16 August 2013
UK ICO Issues Guidance on Requests for Personal Data
The United Kingdom Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on Aug. 8 published new guidance for organizations to help them deal with requests from individuals for their data. Under the Data Protection Act, anyone has the right to find out what information an organization holds about them by making a “subject access request.” This allows individuals to […]
-
7 June 2013
Connecticut Bars Disclosing Photos of Homicide Victims
Photographs of homicide victims will not be disclosable in the U.S. state of Connecticut under a new law. Written in the wake of the shootings of 26 persons in December 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the legislation (Senate Bill No. 1149) was passed overwhelmingly June 5 and signed by the governor June 6. Originally limited […]
-
7 March 2013
Access and Privacy: Where Do We Draw the Line?
By Robert Freeman Freeman is Executive Director of the Committee on Open Government, a unit housed in the New York State Department of State that oversees and advises the government, public, and news media on Freedom of Information, Open Meetings, and Personal Privacy Protection Laws. He was a close observer when the state of New […]
-
28 January 2013
New York Restricts Access to Names of Gun Owners
The controversial publication by a New York newspaper of public records showing the names and addresses of handgun owners has resulted in a state law restricting disclosure of ownership data, backtracking by the newspaper, and a great deal of debate within journalism circles. The controversy arose after The Journal News published an interactive map showing […]
-
31 December 2012
Publishing Names of Gun Owners Triggers U.S. Debate
The publication by a New York newspaper of the names and addresses of handgun owners, although public information, has generated a substantial controversy. The Journal News published an interactive map to make it easy for readers to find some gun owners in New York’s Rockland and Westchester counties, outside of New York City. The paper […]
-
10 December 2012
South Africa to Create Information Regulator
A new “Information Regulator” to be created in South Africa will oversee the access to information law as well as a new data protection law, fulfilling a long-running goal of access to information activists. The development comes in the context of data protection legislation approved by the Parliament and expected to be signed into law […]
-
13 June 2011
OAS Approves Resolutions on Access to Information, Truth
The General Assembly of the Organization of American States, meeting in El Salvador June 5-7, approved resolutions on access to public information, protection of personal data, access to the truth about past human rights violations, and many other topics. (See OAS press release and links to the declaration in English and Spanish.) While recalling past […]
-
25 March 2011
EU Official Issues Guidance on Access to Personal Data
The European Data Protection Supervisor March 24 issued a “background paper” on public access to documents containing personal data, to serve as guidance for EU institutions. “The paper explains the updated EDPS position on the matter following the ruling of the European Court of Justice in the Bavarian Lager case on the reconciliation of the […]
-
25 March 2011
Banisar Study Explores Interplay of RTI, Privacy laws
There is no simple solution to balancing the sometimes competing rights of access to information and protection of privacy, “but most issues can be mitigated through the enactment of clear definitions in legislation, guidelines, techniques, and oversight systems,” according to a report by David Banisar, Senior Legal Counsel for Article 19, the London-based freedom of […]
-
23 July 2010
Venezuelan Court Denies Access to Salary Info
The Venezuelan Supreme Court July 15 said that disclosure of the salaries of public officials would violate their privacy and that requestors must justify their requests. The court denied a request by Asociación Espacio Público for the salaries of officials in the Office of the Comptroller General. The court said there is not absolute right […]
-
14 April 2009
European Court of Human Rights: Right to Information Essential to Free Expression
Társaság a Szabadságjogokért v. Hungary a Landmark Decision in the Right to Know Strasbourg, France — In a landmark decision today, the European Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe found in favor of Társaság a Szabadságjogokért, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, in its complaint against the Hungarian government over a submission to the Hungarian […]
-
9 May 2007
China Adopts First Nationwide Open Government Information Regulations
By Jamie P. Horsley The Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information (OGI Regulations) published on April 24, 2007, and effective one year later on May 1, 2008, mark a turning point away from the deeply ingrained culture of government secrecy toward making Chinese government operations and information more transparent. (Note […]
-
20 April 2004
Shanghai Advances the Cause of Open Government Information in China
While the Chinese State Council mulls over a draft of China’s first freedom of information legislation, the bustling metropolis of Shanghai, home to some 16 million people, adopted China’s first provincial-level open information legislation on January 20, 2004. The Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on Open Government Information (the Shanghai Provisions) represent the most comprehensive framework […]
-
14 July 2003
China’s Pioneering Foray Into Open Government: A Tale of Two Cities
By Jamie P. Horsley Guangzhou Municipal Provisions on Open Government Information (Decree No. 8 of the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government dated November 6, 2002) (PDF – 158 KB) China’s initial reticence in sharing information about the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic highlighted anew the culture of secrecy that has for centuries shrouded the Chinese […]