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Carnival time

Martin Rosenbaum | 13:50 UK time, Friday, 17 August 2007

If you're interested in how freedom of information works in America, you might like . It calls itself a 'carnival of open records', collecting together what it describes as the 'best posts from the FOIA-sphere', even if it seems to work on the basis that the FOIA-sphere is no bigger than the US. It looks like the plan is hold the carnival on a weekly basis at different sites.

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  • 1.
  • At 03:03 PM on 18 Aug 2007,
  • Paul Dockree wrote:

How Freedom of Information works - I got no further, Martin because I was laughing uproariously. Then I noticed "works in America". OK then.

I have decided not to play anymore with my newspapers who seem happy to report how terrible access to FOI is in one particular instance but do not seem prepared to stick metaphorical two fingers at someone.

The Press appear to have the "information" but it has no "freedom" to use same allegedly.

I suspect the front page again this morning - my Aunt Ginnie and "cravenness" by a specific late someone mentioned. I repeat - late! Cartoon justice would have a legally supported cabal stopping press print.

So no more, Martin.

Glad to hear we can use the word "work" for the American version of FOI though. Apt - as the Press were seemingly "stopped" from printing "Mom's" story. Mom? Yuk! LOL

Thanks for the mention.

On our blog, we started out focusing on open records laws just within the fifty states--not our federal FOIA.

All of the states have somewhat different laws governing access to public documents at the state and local level.

Which brings me to a question--do you have one law that governs both national and local agencies, or do local regions make their own laws governing local documents?

  • 3.
  • At 09:29 PM on 20 Aug 2007,
  • Martin Rosenbaum wrote:

We have two laws:
the Freedom of Information Act, which covers over 100,000 public authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, from government departments to local bodies;
and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, which is similar but not identical and covers about 10,000 public authorities in Scotland.

The FOI Act is here -

And the FOI (Scotland) Act is here -

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