Last week a Freedom of Information disclosure from the Cabinet Office put significant new material about the notorious Iraq WMD dossier into the public domain. A few days later the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced action to address delays by the same Cabinet Office in responding to FOI requests. Unfortunately neither development was what it seemed. (more…)
A bid for greater media freedom put forward by opposition parties in Sri Lanka has been rejected by the ruling party led by President Mahinda Rajapakse. The United People’s Freedom Alliance, which enjoys a two-thirds majority, voted against the proposed Freedom of Information Bill. The bill was presented after opposition members accused the government of trying to stifle media freedom. A total of at least 18 journalists and media employees have been killed in the past decade.
The Royal Household is now even more protected from the Freedom of Information Act since the removal of the public interest test. Judith Townend reports
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This article was first published in Media Guardian
The information genie cannot be put back into the bottle, however hard authorities try. But the authorities continue to exploit the internet as a means of control