freedominfo.org update - February 9, 2005

International openness advocates assist Slovakian reformers
Against government claim that EU directive protects "silent refusal"

Taken from: http://www.freedominfo.org

"Washington, D.C. - Freedom of information advocates in 10 countries plus the U.S. state of New York today combined forces on-line within an elapsed time of four hours to help Slovakian openness reformers refute a governmental secrecy claim, according to a case study of the on-line networking posted today by freedominfo.org.

Slovakian lawyer Peter Wilfing, with the Citizen and Democracy Association in Bratislava, posted his request for help on the foiadvocates.net list at 6:57 a.m. on February 9; and within four hours the posting had circulated on several related lists and Wilfing had received advice and legal precedents from experts in South Africa, India, Canada, Israel, Hungary, Ireland, Bulgaria, the U.S., Latvia, Germany, and the state of New York. The managing editor of freedominfo.org, Thomas Blanton, said, "This is a remarkable demonstration of the power of on-line networking in the digital age." "