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, information, laws and/or country:
“Man cannot be free if he does not know that he is subject to necessity, because his freedom is always won in his never wholly successful attempts to liberate himself from necessity.”
—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)
“It is a power stronger than will.... Could a stone escape from the laws of gravity? Impossible. Impossible, for evil to form an alliance with good.”
—Isidore Ducasse, Comte de Lautréamont (1846–1870)
“Brutus. How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport,
That now on Pompey’s basis lies along,
No worthier than the dust!
Cassius. So oft as that shall be,
So often shall the knot of us be called
The men that gave their country liberty.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)