Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act • Hacker News Board

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#151

Post by downrightmike » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 5:56 PM UTC

black_puppydog wrote: post #138

BadBadJellyBean wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Also no more limit on the cost they can bill you for providing the information. This can easily be 5 figures and isn't known before it's too late.

Citizen: Pays taxes, creating the info being requested

Citizen: Pays again to get access to the info

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#152

Post by snowpid » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 6:00 PM UTC

arjie wrote: post #125

denvrede wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd generally agree, but my follow up question would be: which western country isn't?

Poland is now in the Western sphere of influence and it is not in decay. A weak case can be made for Ireland but it’s harder to extract effects of tax haven status. But Poland certainly. Going to be a higher income populace than the UK soon at this rate. The US is unusual as a federation. Some parts decline, others rise. I think it’s resilient. And every time something goes wrong, America pulls out a magic new techno…

The US is more in decay than Germany. Currently it becomes more and more a broken democracy. Cope is strong here.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#153

Post by lukan » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 6:01 PM UTC

ffsm8 wrote: post #123

h4x0rr wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SPD has no integrity either way

Let's just remember that spd unironically thought the CumEx expert Scholz should be given the highest position in the government. After that debacle I honestly cannot understand how anyone with even an iota of integrity can vote for them again and think any of them would ever act in the interests of their people

"After that debacle I honestly cannot understand how anyone with even an iota of integrity can vote for them again"

Well, there is actually a very old song about them, here in a new version (that is also already quite old by now)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vFL0QWxugI

But the answer is probably lack of real alternatives.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#154

Post by shinryuu » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 6:05 PM UTC

master-lincoln wrote: post #64

eigenspace wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the article just has poor wording. They went through a raft of different, unrelated reforms already, and this is part of the next set the CDUs want to get through.

DW is the only media outlet in Germany financed directly via taxes. They are unlikely to be impartial

In what way do you think they are partial here?

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#155

Post by snowpid » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 6:05 PM UTC

jijijijij wrote: post #71

sam_lowry_ wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its economy has been growing for 30 years non-stop, to the point that it is now compared to Singapore.

In context of the article, the economic performance is hardly relevant. The authoritarian forces are still strong in Poland, their institutional damage persistent.

Im really happy for Poland for its growing economy. (though it has the same challenges as Germany roughly speaking)

But You can't just deny the political problems. Propably some Americans do it - to cope with Trump who is worser than any PiS president. Poland has the EU as democratic layer but US with Trump doesnt have it.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#156

Post by snowpid » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 6:14 PM UTC

jijijijij wrote: post #69

As a German citizen let me tell you, the rate of decline this country is in is truly shocking. This is by far the worst government in my lifetime, and remarkably there is wide consensus about it across the population (above 85% dissatisfaction, if you think I am exaggerating here). Industry and trade associations aren't happy either, which raises the question who asks for this? Life is getting forcefully precarious f…

Sorry this is more an effect of your social media consumption .

I don't deny the problem the country is facing but your doom is multiplied by social media.

Touch some grass, maybe pay for traditional media and you get a view of the trade offs the government is facing. It doesnt mean you have to agree with the choice but you know...

" Industry and trade associations aren't happy either, which raises the question who asks for this? " A comprise is good if everyone involved is unhappy.

" As a German citizen let me tell you, the rate of decline this country is in is truly shocking. " Just let you know. Most AfD members share your sentiment. Maybe you should qquestion this feeling.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#157

Post by inigyou » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 6:22 PM UTC

master-lincoln wrote: post #120

inigyou wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's already the case that if you question Israel's right to exist you are considered an antisemitic terrorist and arrested - they are now trying to codify this into an actual law (not just something the police do). There is no freedom in Germany. The mistakes of the past did not change anyone's mindset about human rights and freedom. They only learned how to put on a facade of caring about them. And they are the mos…

> The mistakes of the past did not change anyone's mindset about human rights and freedom As if anybody who experienced this themselves has a big influence on current politics...WW2 ended 81 years ago

Mindsets are quite hereditary at the collective level, if you didn't notice.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#158

Post by radiator » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 6:22 PM UTC

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.

> Denmark is not just decayed, it is completely rotten

I don't know about the truthness of this claim, but you are definitely getting the upvote for the humour.

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#159

Post by snowpid » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 6:27 PM UTC

While I disagree with the doom of some posters (especially coming over from r/de) I do think this is a systematic issue we need to tackle.

These organisation fights for a direct democratic veto right so any change change can be fought against with enough signs. Please support (and people from other countries feel inspired)

https://www.vetorecht.de/

Re: Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act

#160

Post by Markomancer » Tue, Jul 14, 2026, 6:31 PM UTC

CrimsonRain wrote: post #147

Markomancer wrote: post #146

As a freedom of information officer for a public body in another EU country, I feel that some of these changes such as the restriction of requests to EU citizens are inevitable in my country too. The volume of FOI requests we get is huge and they are more time intensive than ever, due to the fact most are now written by llms. I see no reason why the taxpayers of any EU country should be footing the bill for requests…

How about keeping the information public from start so a request is not even needed?

Fully in favour of this and we are making efforts to publish as much of our data publicly as we can. We have set up an open data portal for this purpose.

My country differs from Germany in that our Freedom of Information laws are much broader and allow anyone to request virtually any record held by a public organisation, with the grounds for refusal being narrower. For example, generic day to day email exchanges between low level public officials are requestable and we have to argue why it is against the public interest to prevent releasing them.

While we're trying to publish as much data that is of public interest ad possible, it's proving very difficult to anticipate many of these requests.

In my organisation in particular - we're receiving requests from consultation firms outside the EU on costings for certain services. So we(The taxpayer) are essentially doing their research for them.