Freedom of information laws by country detail legislation that gives access by the general public to data held by national governments. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions. Also variously referred to as open records, or sunshine laws (in the United States), governments are also typically bound by a duty to publish and promote openness. In many countries there are constitutional guarantees for the right of access to information, but usually these are unused if specific support legislation does not exist.
Read more about Freedom Of Information Laws By Country: Introduction, Pending Legislation By Country
Famous quotes containing the words freedom of, freedom, information, laws and/or country:
“The reason artists show so little interest
In public freedom is because the freedom
They’ve come to feel the need of is a kind
No one can give them they can scarce attain
The freedom of their own material....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“In the information age, you don’t teach philosophy as they did after feudalism. You perform it. If Aristotle were alive today he’d have a talk show.”
—Timothy Leary (b. 1920)
“Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night;
God said Let Newton be! and all was light.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“Thus, far from the beaten highways and the dust and din of travel, we beheld the country privately, yet freely, and at our leisure.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)