What’s New
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24 September 2015
FOI Notes: Pakistan, Canada, India, US, Immigration, UK
Pakistan: Pildat, an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit indigenous research and training institution with the mission to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan has published a report “Activating Right to Information in South Asia,” by Nikhil Dey, co-convener of the National Campaign on People’s Right to Information, India. Among other messages, Dey writes: “The RTI […]
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24 September 2015
RTI Bill Ready for Review Sri Lankan Official Says
A draft right to information bill will soon be sent to the Attorney General’s Department, according to an article by Nadira Gunatilleke in The Daily News. The bill also will go to all Provincial Councils in order to educate them on the proposed bill, according to Media and Parliament Rehabilitation Minister and Co-Cabinet Spokesman Gayantha […]
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22 September 2015
Decree Brings Access Law Into Effect in Paraguay
Paraguay’s President Horacio Cartes on Sept. 18 signed a decree (Decree 4064/15) implementing the law on access to public information. Cartes called it “a historic moment in our country” and said his administration would work to end injustice and misuse of public money, according to a posting on a government website (in Spanish). Transparency will […]
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22 September 2015
140 UK Groups Protest Bias on New FOIA Commission
Some 140 groups have charged that the Commission on Freedom of Information announced in July is biased. The letter to the British Prime Minister David Cameron by media bodies, civil society groups and and others states, “The government does not appear to intend the Commission to carry out an independent and open minded inquiry.” The […]
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17 September 2015
Mauritius PM Pledges Preparation of FOI Bill
The government of Mauritius has announced in a statement that is “committed to bring forward a Freedom of Information Act.” The promise came from Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth in reply to a question in the National Assembly. The statement says such a law will “promote transparency and accountability in public administration and more particularly in […]
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17 September 2015
Canadian Groups Press Politicians for Access Reforms
Nineteen Canadian groups have issued a joint letter asking the major political parties to make concrete commitments to reform Canada’s access to information system. They urged four reforms: – Strengthen the Office of the Information Commissioner with a larger mandate and order-making power. – Eliminate loopholes and blanket exclusions and minimize exceptions to the Access […]
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17 September 2015
What Is Transparency?
By Ben Worthy The author is lecturer in Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London, and runs the website OpenDataStudy, where this article first appeared. Through what media, cultural, activist and commercial forms do people learn about transparency issues? What are the dominant messages on transparency? There are a number of ways through which the […]
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17 September 2015
FOI Notes: India, Pakistan, US, EU, South Africa, Trade, Research, More
India: Human Rights Watch calls on the government to “promptly and thoroughly investigate threats and attacks on so-called right-to-information activists.” Pakistan: Nudrrat Khawaia reports in The Daily Pakistan: “Despite well-publicized promises, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has yet to undo the widely criticized amendments to the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Right to Information Act 2013.” Mexico: Ximena […]
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14 September 2015
MuckRock to let users track projects and contribute to costs
By Joseph Lichterman The author is a staff writer at NiemanLab where article was first published under a Creative Commons license. For the past year, Beryl C.D. Lipton has been investigating the private prison system in the United States. She’s a reporter for MuckRock, a news site that covers government transparency issues and also helps its users access government documents. […]
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10 September 2015
Burkina Faso Passes FOI Bill; Draft Considered Good
Burkina Faso’s parliament has adopted a freedom of information bill, according to sources and media reports. See text of the legislation (in French). Little detail was available about the legislation immediately after passage, but drafts were praised by FOI experts. The National Transitional Council passed the FOI bill Aug. 30, along with several bills regulating the media […]
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10 September 2015
Brazil: Transparency for Some, Opacity for Most
By Marina Iemini Atoji The author is executive manager of Abraji, the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism, and runs its training for journalists on Brazilian freedom of information law. She is also executive secretary for the Forum for Access to Public Information, a coalition of 25 entities coordinated by Abraji that successfully lobbied for Brazil’s freedom of information […]
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10 September 2015
FOI Notes: Open Budgets, Pakistan, India, Nepal, UK, US, Nigeria, Scotland, Open Data, World Bank
Open Budgets: The Open Budget Partnership announces the release of its 2015 survey, stating: Most countries surveyed provide insufficient information for civil society and the public to understand or monitor budgets, and only a small fraction of countries have appropriate mechanisms for the public to participation in budget processes. Formal oversight institutions also frequently face […]
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4 September 2015
Australia Still Considering Committed OGP Membership
The Australian government has not yet decided whether to commit toward membership in the Open Government Partnership, a government spokesperson told FreedomInfo.org Sept. 4. The OGP Steering Committee recently gave Australia until the end of October to indicate its intention to be an active member, or to join Russia as an OGP drop-out. The answer […]
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3 September 2015
OGP Working Group Picks Four Microgrant Projects
The Access to Information Working Group of the Open Government Partnership has selected four recipients of “microgrants.” Those doing research papers will receive US $1,500 and the project is backed by US $3,000. They are meant to be completed by Oct. 15. Chosen from 50 applications were: 1) Access to information, OGP commitments, political will […]
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3 September 2015
FOI Notes: Latin America, Malaysia, India, EU, OGP, UK, Canada, Ghana, More
Latin America: “Use of and Compliance with Access to Information Laws: Experiences in Brazil, Chile and Mexico,” by Marcos Mendiburu and Silvana Fumega is available in English and Spanish on the website of La Red de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública (RTA). The report takes a close look at data about the use […]
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3 September 2015
Report Urges FOI, Open Data Communities to Collaborate
By Toby McIntosh The freedom of information and open government data (OGD) communities “could benefit from closer collaboration,” according to new report written by Silvana Fumega for the World Wide Web Foundation. Fumega elaborated on her conclusions in an e-mail interview with FreedomInfo.org. Besides discussing the two communities’ similarities and difference, Fumega compares the evaluation […]
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27 August 2015
Indian Government Opposes Putting Parties Under RTI Act
The Indian government has told the Supreme Court that political parties should not be covered by the Right to Information Act, as decreed by the Central Information Commission. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) submitted an affidavit saying the CIC erroneously ruled in June 2013 that political parties are public authorities under the RTI […]
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27 August 2015
Pakistan Breaches Promise to Bring RTI Bill to Cabinet
Pakistan’s government has not lived up to official promises that a right to information reform bill would be considered at the next Cabinet meeting, reports Umar Cheema in The News. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid told The News Aug. 22 that the draft bill would be presented in the “next’” cabinet […]
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27 August 2015
FOI and eyes wide shut: even public servants want to know
By Suelette Dreyfuss The author is a research fellow in Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne and part of an international team looking at the impact of technology on whistleblowing about wrongdoing. She is author of the 1997 book, Underground: Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier. This is an expanded version […]
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27 August 2015
FOI Notes: Open Data, Pakistan, Philippines, India, Malaysia, US, Isle of Man, Open Contracting, UK, Caribbean, Mexico
Open Data: The Open Knowledge Foundation announces on what datasets will be including in the 2015 Global Open Data Index (GODI). The additions follow consultations and discussions on the Index forum. An invitation has been issued to make submissions to the index by Sept. 20. Pakistan: The Punjab Information Commission summons a top official of […]