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Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

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Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#81

Post by BadBadJellyBean »

Aeolun wrote: post #37

Wait? They previously allowed everybody and their mother to request the information? Limiting it to ‘citizens of the european union’ seems eminently reasonable.

There is more to it. To request information you have to have some "legitimate interest" which is not yet defined and sounds like an easy way to not give out information.

Also no more NGOs. They were the ones who had the most power to wrestle information out of the hands of rather unwilling parties. The cost of going to court for this would deter most private persons.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#82

Post by rbehrends »

rob74 wrote: post #43
eigenspace wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This hasn't been voted on in the Bundesttag yet, let alone the Bundesrat or Bundespräsident.

Ok, so what did they actually approve? Is this just a "declaration of intent", and the actual laws will follow later?! The article clearly says "lawmakers approved a whole series of reforms" - I was also surprised that this worked so quickly, but what do I know...

It means that this is a cabinet decision, not (yet) legislation. It still has to go through the Bundestag. Given the opposition within the SPD and the idea being very unpopular among voters, it is not yet clear whether this will actually become law.

It is still very worrying and the unfortunate result of a lot of things going wrong at the cabinet level.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#83

Post by watwut »

inigyou wrote: post #61
josefritzishere wrote: post #14

Germany is forgetting history already.

Germany has learned from history and become Israel's biggest supporter.

That historical guilt and awareness are noticeable in Germans and Germany. Their unconditional support of Israel is literally one of the consequences. So was their massive support for refugees.

They are really way stronger in admitting their country crimes the other countries I know about who generally like to pretend none of that ugly stuff was happening.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#85

Post by krferriter »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #59
eigenspace wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but the more problematic part is disallowing NGOs from submitting information requests. Multiple previous corruption scandals in Germany were exposed exactly because NGOs themselves were allowed to submit these information requests (and pay for them).

IMHO banning organisations from making requests will have no effect. People will just make requests in their own names, instead, then what?

If the fees are raised, individuals will be less willing to pay out of their own pocket. Even if they aren't raised people are less willing to pay out of pocket compared to an NGO or journalism org that had revenue and budget allotments specifically for that purpose. Assuming NGOs will also not be allowed to directly pay for request fees made by their members/collaborators.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#86

Post by Oarch »

petcat wrote: post #56
flossly wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Denmark? The Swiss? Norway? And I was in Serbia lately, and while it was not as developed as NW-EU, nobody there described it as decaying (and many said they experiences decay when living in western nations over the past 2 decades).

Denmark is the architect of Chat Control. Even the extreme version that requires all E2E communications be accessible to the government. Denmark is not just decayed, it is completely rotten.

I wasn't expecting to find Hamlet in these comments...

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#87

Post by quater321 »

OKRainbowKid wrote: post #2

This 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.

[dead]

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#88

Post by maratc »

dyauspitr wrote: post #52
eigenspace wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, what on earth makes you single out Poland as the single western country not in decay right now?

It doesn’t have immigrants so the right wing tries extra hard to paint it as rosy.

There are about 1.5 million immigrants from Ukraine alone.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#89

Post by sajithdilshan »

inigyou wrote: post #53
flohofwoe wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, do you seriously think the 'alternative' would be any more progressive when it comes to freedom of information (or government transparency in general) once they'd be in power?

I guess the Left or the Greens or the useless SPD could theoretically win the elections. It won't happen though. It'll be AfD.

[flagged]

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#90

Post by PurpleRamen »

beeforpork wrote: post #41
PurpleRamen wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rumour goes that too many high ranking fraudulent CDU-politicians were exposed with this (Philipp Amthor and Jens Spahn for example).

The proposal to restrict the access to information came from Amthor himself -- he was in the working group to prepare this proposal for the coalition agreement. It is not a rumour, it is a plain public fact. Amthor's shady connection to Augustus Intelligence was revealed by a request using this law. https://fragdenstaat.de/artikel/exklusiv/2025/03/union-will-... (In German)

Yes, it's his job now doing this. But as long as he doesn't directly say it, we can only assume his personal motivation for taking this job and making this proposal, as also the motivation of those supporting him. So for legal reasons, it's "rumours".
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