Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
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Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
#2This seems to be the latest attempt of the conservative CDU to further reduce transparency and accountability of government officials. One could posit the goal is to enable corruption without all that hassle of the media potentially finding out about it.
Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
#3This seems to be the latest attempt of the conservative CDU to further reduce transparency and accountability of government officials. One could posit the goal is to enable corruption without all that hassle of the media potentially finding out about it.
A country in decay..
Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
#4I'm not really sure I buy the alarm on restricting FoI requests to German citizens and EU citizens in Germany.
Should a random US citizen be able to ask a random Germany government official for data? Why?
Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
#5I'm not really sure I buy the alarm on restricting FoI requests to German citizens and EU citizens in Germany. Should a random US citizen be able to ask a random Germany government official for data? Why?
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Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
#6Same thing happened in Romania.
The previous president was burning tens of million of Euros on renting private jets on the taxpayer's dime for trips that weren't related to his duties, and when reporters wanted to investigate this misuse, the government came forward and called the president's travel history (and expenses) a national security topic and remove it from the freedom of information.
Isn't it convenient how you can just cover corruption under the rug by invoking national security? I'm surprised it hasn't been used more often.
Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
#7Worth noting that this is a push from the CDU who are leading the government, but their coalition partner the SPD has already come out pretty strongly against this, so it's rather unclear if this would ever actually go through (not to mention challenges from constitutional courts). The CDU cannot unilaterally push through legislation without the SPD.
The SPD has rolled over for the CDU in the past on things, but they've also blocked things they thought were important enough to block, so it's really anyone's guess if this go through (I personally wouldn't bet on it, but I'm sure a bunch of dour pessimists will come explain to me that it's a foregone conclusion and I'm naive).
Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
#8I'm not really sure I buy the alarm on restricting FoI requests to German citizens and EU citizens in Germany. Should a random US citizen be able to ask a random Germany government official for data? Why?
It's not just foreign nationals that would be barred from issuing requests but non-profit organizations as well. Also, the cap on fees would be eliminated, further increasing the barriers for people wanting to issue requests.
Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
#9I'm not really sure I buy the alarm on restricting FoI requests to German citizens and EU citizens in Germany. Should a random US citizen be able to ask a random Germany government official for data? Why?
It excludes organisations and increases fees. So, if say Amnesty or Greenpeace (two NGOs opposing this act) want to FoI something, they have to get a German citizen to do it for them, possibly at considerable expense - and you bet if they try to compensate them, it'll be "foreign interference" and an excuse for suppression.
Like GDPR, the existence of FoI laws give government agencies a reason to develop systems to quickly and effortlessly give people the access they're entitled to. Given the existence of such systems (analogous to the "data takeout" systems businesses must have for PII), giving access to foreigners as well should be unproblematic. It's supposed to be public information in the first place, roadblocks have no place.
Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
#10I'm not really sure I buy the alarm on restricting FoI requests to German citizens and EU citizens in Germany. Should a random US citizen be able to ask a random Germany government official for data? Why?
What is the rationale to restrict it to citizens? Do you prefer a more open or more closed society?