International update

Australia
Sydney Morning Herald - No, you can't read this - you wouldn't understand it
"The future of Australia's freedom-of-information law will be decided in court, writes Matthew Moore...Now the High Court has the chance to do what the Government has refused. It has a chance to decide if 23 years of narrow, legalistic interpretation of the act should continue, or whether it's time to go back to the words written in the act and give a broader interpretation of what they really mean."

Indonesia - Jakarta Post - Vigorous monitoring necessary for secrecy law
"The wind of democratization blows strongly in Indonesia, a country only recently declared the fourth largest democracy in the world. Anything seen as a setback to the ongoing process draws immediate opposition from the public. That explains why the public has rushed to criticize the state secrecy bill, and even oppose its ongoing deliberation by the House of Representatives, although many of them have yet to study the contents of the bill completely."

Germany
Online Consultants International publishes FOI-Letters (IFG-Rundbrief)
in German and English about Freedom of Information laws in Germany:


Ireland
Information Commissioner Annual report 2005
"Too many exemptions from FOI Act: O'Reilly"

USA
International Herald Tribune - Case on non-citizen access to state records
"PHILADELPHIA -A panel of U.S. federal appeals court judges will rule on the constitutionality of Delaware's Freedom of Information Act, which denies nonresidents access to public records in the state, the legal home of many major American corporations"

Thanks to Dave Banisar for these links