中英美档案行政管理部门开展政府信息依申请公开工作的比较研究

本文将中、英、美三国档案行政管理部门开展政府信息依申请公开工作的范围和数量、法律依据、面临的问题等加以比较。对我国档案行政管理部门政府信息依申请公开工作进行了展望,提出进一步做好我国档案行政管理部门政府信息依申请公开的几点措施。     

The administration and operation of the freedom of information act: A retrospective

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has been administered by Federal departments and agencies for almost 30 years. Aspects of that administrative experience are discussed here. Never held in high regard or enthusiastically implemented by the Executive Branch, the FOIA and its effective operation owe much to Congress, which, after creating the statute, nurtured it through diligent oversight and legislative amendment. However, the FOIA has not received comprehensive congressional examination and evaluation for a decade. Not only might its existing procedures benefit from reassessment and upgrading, but also its capacity to contend with electronic formats is in question. Furthermore, the prospect of the statute being extended to cover Congress or possibly the entire Legislative Branch grows stronger, suggesting a need to begin discussions concerning the scope of the FOIA's application to congressional or Legislative Branch records and such new arrangements as may be necessary to facilitate effective operation of the law should this application be approved.     

Extracting knowledge from U.S. department of defense freedom of information act requests with social media

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has facilitated the release of large amounts of government information that has been of great value to researchers, journalists, and other interested parties. The fraction of this information released in electronic format has been growing as has its volume. While offering great potential for research, large amounts of data disgorged from government information systems can pose challenges to human interpretation and knowledge extraction. Using the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Joint Staff Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Logs for 2007–2009, this research identifies (1) a process for finding relationships between the FOIA requests through keywords extracted from Wikipedia and (2) a technique for visualizing these relationships in order to provide context and improve understanding when working with born-digital government data.     

Why library cards offer more privacy rights than proof of citizenship: Librarian ethics and Freedom of Information Act requestor policies

This paper demonstrates the divergent requestor privacy policies of professional librarians and the administration of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and urges the federal government to adhere to librarian ethics in order to protect FOIA requestors. Section 1 of the paper provides information about the origins and purpose of the FOIA. Section 2 offers an overview of the philosophical and historical origins of library patron privacy ethics, discussing both the ethical basis for patron privacy and actual instances where library records have been sought for government surveillance of private citizens. Section 3 describes the state library laws that protect library requestors, as well as federal laws that protect non-FOIA requestor privacy rights, including the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), which protects video rental records. Section 4 of the paper warns that, in the digital era, it is more important than ever to safeguard personal information like that contained in FOIA requests to prevent the stifling of information seeking activities in the United States. By modifying laws tomeet the needs of the “information age,” the United States government can embrace and utilize the ethical standards that are at the foundation of librarianship, and protect the principle that information should be free and available to the American populace.     

Building open government

On his first full day in office, President Obama issued a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government calling on his administration to develop recommendations that would “establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.” Together, the recommendations would be used to create an “Open Government Directive” instructing agencies to transform themselves to become more transparent, collaborative, and participatory. The President also issued a Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). These statements did not spring ex nihilo from President Obama and his aides (or even from the army of organizations and individuals who advised them or submitted recommendations during the transition). They have a basis in extant law and regulation, and it this basis at which this article looks.     

Information governance,records management,and freedom of information: A study of local government authorities in England

In many democratic states political rhetoric gives weight to increasing public participation in and understanding of the political process; (re)-establishing public trust in government decision making; increasing transparency, openness, and accountability of public authorities; and, ultimately, improving government decision-making on behalf of citizens. Access to the public record and freedom of information (FOI) are mechanisms which help to facilitate the accountability of public authorities. Many jurisdictions have introduced legislation related to these mechanisms, and the UK government is no exception with its enactment of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 2000. University College London (UCL) ran a research project over 12 months in 2008–2009, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. The research project examined what the impact of the UK FOIA had been on records management services in public authorities, especially local government. This article reports on some of the findings of the study. It considers how FOI compliance and records management functions are organized in local government and the role of information governance which is emerging as an umbrella for such functions. It draws some conclusions about the contributions that records management services make to the ability of local authorities to comply with the FOIA and identifies some ways in which user experience may be affected by the management of records.     

Searching FOIA Libraries for government information

FOIA Libraries are the repositories for many documents released under the FOIA¹ (Freedom of Information Act), i.e., “responsive documents,” by federal agencies and their sub agencies. Awareness of search terminology for FOIA Libraries or electronic reading rooms can assist the public and researchers to locate publicly available government information, including responsive documents. Responsive documents are the responses to FOIA requests that can be posted (in full or with redactions) by federal agencies. FOIA responses may not be easily findable by major web search engines. The goal of this article is to educate readers about government and non-government FOIA resources and declassified document repositories for discovery. It is important for researchers, journalists and citizens to use “FOIA Libraries,” “Electronic Reading Room,” or “FOIA tag” to search for documents concerning government activities and operations that are released under the FOIA on the web. In addition to aiding in the research process, access to responsive documents information furthers democratic goals of transparency and supports findability of government information by the public.     

Foil and foia compared: A comparison between the freedom of information law in israel and the u.s. freedom of information act

On May 19, 1998, the Israeli Knesset voted unanimously to pass a proposed “Freedom of Information Law.” Israel has been slow to adopt the concept of freedom of information, and although it has been acknowledged in various court rulings, it has not been embodied in legislation. The purpose of this study is to examine the Israeli Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) and to analyze it in respect to the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). More specifically, this article looks closely at the purpose of the law, the circumstances that permit exemptions to be exercised, the provisions made within FOIL that will enable its execution, and court cases dealing with freedom of information.     

Freedom of information and its impact in the United Kingdom

The UK Parliament passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in November 2000 after 3 years of government White Papers, consultation papers, and various Bills. The author served as special adviser to the House of Commons Select Committee on Public Administration which oversaw the Government proposals for legislation and the progress of the Bill into the House of Commons. The FOIA introduced pro-active publication of information via Publication Schemes, which were introduced on a staggered basis across the public sector and on January 1, 2005, rights of individual access were granted to individuals. The Act covers well over 100,000 public authorities in the UK and includes both Houses of Parliament. There is a power to add private bodies to the Act's coverage. The Act covers UK, English, Welsh, and Northern Irish public authorities. Scotland has its own FOIA which was enacted by the Scottish Parliament in 2002. The paper will examine the operation of the UK legislation and the role of the Information Commissioner and the Information Tribunal which deal with complaints of refusal and appeals respectively. The jurisprudence has been voluminous and now the English courts are beginning to hear appeals from the tribunal. The article will examine the major trends of the legislation and the problems presented by the legislation. The Government has already issued vetoes under the Act overriding the Commissioner's decision to grant access to the Cabinet papers relating to the Cabinet discussion on entering into war with Iraq and then on devolution of power to Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. The decisions to open up the files on MPs expenses have caused one of the major constitutional crises in the UK in the last 75 years. As well as examining the way the Act has been interpreted, the author will essay some preliminary analyses of the impact of the Act on the realization of government objectives in passing the Act. The FOIA does sit alongside other legislation allowing access to personal files and access to environmental information and the whole information debate is set in the context of heightened sensitivity and secrecy in time of the war on terror and the state's increasing capacity to demand, store, and share information. The UK experience of the information debate will be examined.     

FOIA, federal information policy, and information availability in a post-9/11 world

Access to government records is increasingly shifting to a nether world-governed neither by the FOIA and the Privacy Act, nor by an executive order on classification. Instead, new categories of records, labeled “sensitive but unclassified,” “for official use only,” or “critical infrastructure information,” are being created in a variety of agencies, and are governed by agency regulations. Statutory authority is found in a number of separate laws, such as the Homeland Security Act and the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. These categories can be assigned by agency officials, contractors, or those in the private sector who originated the records; many records categorized this way are not subject to appeal or review by agencies or the courts, or to any automatic “declassification” process that has applied to documents withheld under the FOIA or subject to classification. Trends toward increased secrecy at all levels of government have become sufficiently alarming that individuals across the political spectrum have begun to speak out, and members of the access community (e.g., newspaper editors and public interest groups) have formed coalitions to focus debate on the need to rethink the balance of access with privacy and records protection, and to lobby actively for reinstatement of principles of access that have governed records policy for the past 35 years.     

我国政府信息公开公众响应情况调查报告

此次调查以了解公众对政府信息公开的响应情况为目的,其调查对象涉及十多个省市各地区各阶层的广大公众。通过本次调查,我们大致了解了公众对政府信息公开的整体了解情况及所持态度,影响公众对政府信息公开了解及支持的主要因素,以及政府信息公开产生的主观影响等情况,并据此得出一些结论,望其能对我国政府信息公开的进一步展开有所助益。     

美国国有数据与信息共享的法律基础

美国对联邦政府拥有和资助生产的数据采用"完全与公开"的共享政策.这-政策的主要法律依据是"信息自由法"及"版权法".信息自由法规定,除非法律另有说明,联邦政府的所有信息必须公开;版权法规定,联邦政府的信息不受版权保护,所以政府无法使用版权法限制数据共享.联邦政府通过制订其它法律和政策落实了对国有数据和信息的控制、管理、存档和高效利用.     

Latent transparency and trust in government: Unexpected findings from two survey experiments

Transparency is popularly believed to enhance the public's trust in government, yet experimental studies have found mixed results. One explanation is that public trust may respond more positively to a kind of “latent transparency” in which citizens highly value the mere potential for open access to government information, even if they may have more negative reactions when presented with the particular content of actual government information, documents, or data. To test this hypothesis, we designed two survey experiments in which samples of US adults were primed with general information about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or the existence of open government data.Compared to controls, we find that awareness of FOIA rights and requirements (latent transparency) tended to be unrelated, or even slightly negatively related, to trust of government agencies, contrary to our expectations. Our findings, combined with prior evidence, suggest that—even in the case of latent transparency—the popular belief in transparency's positive effects on citizen trust needs a more critical examination. Implications for the theory and practice of transparency are discussed.     

From a Trickle to a Flood: A Case Study of the Current Index to Legal Periodicals to Examine the Swell of American Law Journals Published in the Last Fifty Years

Using the lists of journals indexed in the Current Index to Legal Periodicals from the last fifty years, this article analyzes the increase in the number of general law reviews, specialized law journals, student-edited journals, and peer-edited and refereed law journals during the last half-century. Data from the Current Index to Legal Periodicals were combined with further data collected from HeinOnline, American Bar Association (ABA) statistics, and U.S. News & World Report statistics. Comparison of these data not only shows a massive increase in the number of law journal titles being published but also suggests a correlation between the number of law journals published by a law school and its student population, length of time that it has been accredited by the ABA, and its U.S. News & World Report ranking. This article also contains a list of all law journals currently indexed by the Current Index to Legal Periodicals including each journal's date of initial publication, in addition to a list of all print student-edited law journals published by ABA-accredited and provisionally accredited U.S. law schools.     

图书馆罚款的法律探讨

图书馆罚款具有合理性,是图书管理的必要手段,但是,根据我国现行法律,图书馆罚款没有法律依据,不具有合法性.在图书馆罚款中,图书馆与读者的关系不是合同关系,而是一种管理关系,因此,不能把罚款改为违约技金.我国法律应当赋予图书馆罚款权.     

Integrating with users is one thing,but living with them? a case study on loss of space from the Medical Center Library,University of California,San Diego

The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center is the primary hospital for the UCSD School of Medicine. The UCSD Medical Center Library (MCL), a branch of the campus''s biomedical library, is located on the medical center campus. In 2007, the medical center administration made a request to MCL for space in its facility to relocate pharmacy administration from the hospital tower. The university librarian brought together a team of library managers to deliberate and develop a proposal, which ultimately accommodated the medical center''s request and enhanced some of MCL''s public services.     

The American Community Survey: An introduction to the basics

The Bureau of the Census initiated the American Community Survey (ACS) in 2005. It will revolutionize the use of census data by providing annual updates to statistics that in the past were collected only every 10 years. Statistics will be published for areas of 65,000 people or more every year. The Bureau of the Census will distribute data for areas of between 20,000 and 64,999 in "3-year period averages." The first 3 year average will appear in 2008 covering 2005–2007. Subsequent data will be issued annually for the following three year periods. (e.g., 2006–2008, 2007–2009) Statistics for areas smaller than 19,999 will be published in 5-year period averages, the first to be published in 2010 covering 2005–2009. Subsequent data to be issued annually will cover 2006–2010, 2007–20011, … This paper provides background information about ACS, similarities and differences between it and the decennial census, the interpretation of statistics based upon period averages, relationships among ACS and other Bureau of the Census Surveys, and the expected future of the survey.     

Chinese economic development, rule of law, and the internet

The Internet and its World Wide Web (Web) have an important role to play in the economic development of China. The government of the People's Republic of China has declared its intention to open opportunities for foreign trade and investment in China. Part of the commitment is a commitment to rule of law. Rule of law acceptable to commercial interests requires transparency and decisional rationality. These two features can be realized most quickly by connecting legal institutions through the Internet's Web to bodies of international commercial law, thus creating a virtual library for Chinese legal decision makers, and using the Web as a quick and cheap electronic “printing press” for Chinese legal decision makers. As a result, their statutes, rules, and decisional law become available to commercial interests. But technology is not enough. Innovative cross-cultural exchange programs aimed at the legal, managerial, and Web-master professions will round out this rule of law support for commercial globalization.     

New interests in old issues: Antiprotection and the end of the manufacturing clause of the U.S. copyright law

The manufacturing clause of the U.S. copyright law, which prohibited the import of most books by U.S. authors that were not printed in the United State or Canada, expired on July 1, 1986. It expired despite initial congressional support and strong efforts by printing industry and union interests to expand its scope and make it permanent. The expiration occurred largely because of the emergence of new interests: industries whose exports were threatened by possible European Community retaliation and those concerned about international property rights issues. Those groups joined forces with top officials of the Reagan administration to gain the expiration of the clause. The analyses and conclusions of this paper are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Department of Commerce or the U.S. Government.