Africa: A World Bank blog reports, “African countries come together to address gaps in managing digital information for open government.” On April 22 and April 29, representatives from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Sierre Leone, South Africa, and Tanzania met to discuss “an issue of mounting concern: managing records and information to support open government.” A Bank survey found that 85 percent of participating countries have digitized their public records, but only 16 percent are storing digitized records and information in secure, professionally managed digital repositories that will ensure they can access good quality information over time. “Seventy-one percent of countries recognize that e-mail is being used to conduct government business but, in an equal number of countries, public officials are using their personal email accounts and there are no policies in place to capture e-mails.”
FOI Research: My Society describes the results of an experiment making parallel requests to the Czech Republic government via private email and via the Informace Pro Všechny platform. The quality of response was the same, but the email requests were answered on average within 9.2 days while responses to requests sent via Informace Pro Všechny took only 7.2 days – two days quicker. Causes uncertain, the report says.
FOI Research: Louis Goddard, a FOI user in the United Kingdom discovers that his requests to universities prompt “Google stalking” from university addresses.
Anti-Corruption: The Communique from the Anti-Corruption Summit in the United Kingdom; many pledges, nothing on FOI.
South Africa/OGP: Right2Know in South Africa criticizes the government’s leadership role in the OGP as “dishonest” and calls for the establishment of a permanent Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue Mechanism as recommended in terms of best OGP practice. The South Africa History Archive comments that appointment of an Information Regulator is two years overdue.
South Africa: The South Africa History Archive reports on difficulties getting answers to information requests sent to public-private partnerships. Follow-up report here and prior descriptions of the project here. Also see reflection on 15 years of the Promotion of Access to Information Act of 2000.
India: “Yet again, RTI, a thorn in the flesh of corrupt politicians,” by consulting editor of Moneylife Vinita Deshmukh in The News Minute discusses the value of the RTI law and efforts to undercut it. “Ever since the RTI Act was implemented in 2005, the political fraternity has time and again sought amendments (unsuccessfully), cried foul over its misuse, with the bureaucracy agreeing no less. Separately, in a MoneyLife article, she reports, “A Committee appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has found out that the Right to Information (RTI) Act is one of the factors behind the poor performance of public sector banks (PSBs) compared with private sector banks!”
United States: FOIA ombudsman James Holzer, who took over last August as director of the Office of Government Information Services, plans to return to a position at the Department of Homeland Security, where he worked before joining OGIS, Politico’s Josh Gerstein reports.
United States: Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero rebuffs requests to formally designate the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA interrogation practices a “federal record” that must be preserved, Secrecy News reports.
Mexico: The new Federal Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information comes into force on May 10, as described in the official announcement and in media reports (in Spanish) here and here. President Enrique Peña Nieto met with members of the National Institute of Commissioners Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (NACI).
Open Data/Germany: Pencho Kuzev of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation writes (in German) about a new study on the economic value of open data. The ambitious case shows that a potential economic gain of up to € 43.1 billion per year in Germany would be realistic.
Open Data: “Most open data sites are badly designed, and here I am not talking about their aesthetics—which are also subpar—but about the conceptual model used to organize and deliver data to users,” according to César A. Hidalgo, writing in Scientific American.
Open Contracting: “The Biggest Hope for Ending Corruption Is Open Public Contracting,” writes Gavin Hayman, Executive Director of the Open Contracting Partnership, in The Huffington Post.
Anti-Corruption: Global Integrity Executive Director Alan Hudson suggests taking a closer look at the anti-corruption agenda and makes suggestions in a post entitled “Doing Anti-corruption Differently.”
Anti-Corruption: A long article by former British Minister of International Development Clare Short, submitted upon the invitation of Prime Minister David Cameron as a chapter for a book on tackling global corruption, but rejected.
Open Data: Martin Tisné, Investment Partner at Omidyar Network writes in advance of an Anti-Corruption Summit in London, that “we need systematic, multilateral action to unleash the true potential of open data to power global efforts to tackle corruption.” He says, “Open data can become a powerful weapon in tackling all forms of corruption if the Summit delivers three things: it ensures the right information is reported and released; it ensures effective transmission of data to those who can use it to drive change; and it equips data users with capacity and space to act on that information.”
Jordan: The access to information regime needs strengthening, speakers at a conference say, The Jordan Times reports, but officials defend the government’s performance.
India: A two-day convention on RTI was attended by around 1,000 RTI activists and others The Daily Pioneer reports.
United States: The General Services Administration announces that its 18F division “is working iteratively with a team of technologists from across the government to build a platform for users who need to log in to government services.”
India: Over 350 government departments out of 1,528 have failed to post RTI manuals, according to an official tally reported by The Economic Times and others,
India: “Bid to dilute RTI must be shunned,” writes Kay Benedict in The Free Press Journal.
India: An interview in The Orissa Post with activist Aruna Roy on RTI topics including Orissa is one of the few states in the country that insists on ID-cards for RTI applicants and even the name of applicant’s spouse. What is your take on this practice?
India: The RTI Act must not be misused and it is important to see its proper implementation rather than spreading awareness, Central Information Commissioner Madabhushi Sridhar Acharya says, as reported by The Hindu.
United States: The Ohio Supreme Court rules that private prearranged discussion of public business, whether in person or electronically, is a violation of the Ohio Open Meetings Act if the discussion involves a majority of a public body’s members. View story from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
SDG 16: The Global Forum for Media Development reports on World Press Freedom Day 2016.
Open Budgets: “What Civil Society Should Know About How Governments are Disclosing Budget Information Online,” by Paolo de Renzio, International Budget Partnership, Jorge Romero Leon, independent researcher, and Fundar’s Diego de la Mora and Liliana Ruiz.
Nigeria: “Nigeria will join the Open Government Partnership,” President Muhammadu Buhari says at an Anti-Corruption Conference in London. The Nigerian Senate has announced plans to launch an independent “Transparency and Delivery Commission.”
OGP: The OGP has recently set up a new Anti-corruption Working Group.
OGP: Former World Bank official Sanjay Pradhan officially begins his new job as OGP new CEO, the OGP announces.
United Kingdom: “The Freedom of Information Act is here to stay,” writes barrister and FOI book author John MacDonald, cautioning: “Campaigners for Freedom of Information cannot however afford to relax. The Government has not revealed its hand in respect of some other recommendations which the Commission made.”
Bahamas: Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employer’s Confederation’s chief executive, said FOI legislation would ensure there was a ‘level playing field’ on all government tenders, as every bidder could access the same information, The Tribune reports.
Ghana: A long article by the Ghana News Agency about transparency in the petroleum sector includes comments by Stephen Yeboah, a lecturer at the Department of Planning at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Yeboah said, “A major step towards ensuring the optimum benefits of oil is the commitment to enact into law the Freedom of Information Bill which is a major foothold for transparency.
Canada: “Does Canada need both a lobbying commissioner and a conflict of interest and ethics commissioner — a privacy commissioner and an information commissioner?” So writes BJ Siekierski in iPolitics about a legislative hearing featuring both Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd and Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault.
European Union: The European Commission gives Access Info a partial response to a request for information about the database in which the travel and entertainment expenses of the European Commissioners are stored.
Open Data: Noel Isama of the Sunlight Foundation describes the Do Good Data 2016 conference in Chicago to find out.
Open Data: A presentation on open data in Boston, which has named data coordinators from an overwhelming majority of the city’s 45 departments, and a reflection on the role of libraries, by Howard Lim.
Australia: An article about the prospect of a new FOI law in Canberra discusses a compromise made on the treatment of cabinet papers.
United States: The story of New York City reporter Joaquin Sapien’s struggle to get city records. Also an interview by Poynter.
United States: “The Mr. Spaghetti scandal, and other unexpected FOIA tales,” Chava Gourarie writes in Columbia Journalism Review about unusual recent FOI requests.
United States: “Time to bring FOIA into the digital age” – interviews with two FOIA experts by Its All Journalism.
United States: Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signs a bill making officials’ emails about public business subject to disclosure even if they’re on private accounts or devices and also restricting access to video from body-worn police cameras.
United Kingdom: Fact sheet on FOI and privacy by BigBrotherWatch.org.
Filed under: What's New