Policy Observatory
NGOs and left-leaning MEPs have voiced concern that an EU bill on trade secrets could harm the public's access to information on matters of vital interest.
MEPs are trying to walk a fine line between business interests and civil liberties in a new bill on trade secrets. The directive is to unify member states’ legislation on how to protect business from illegal access and disclosure of secret information, for instance, on upcoming patents or innovative technologies.
Can open data improve people’s access to information? In this article, Michael Cañares, Regional Research Manager at the Open Data Lab Jakarta looks at how citizens in Banda Aceh used Indonesia’s Freedom of Information Act, and how open data worked to bolster citizen participation.
A U.S. judge on Monday ruled that Microsoft Corp's LinkedIn unit cannot prevent a startup from accessing public profile data, in a test of how much control a social media site can wield over information its users have deemed to be public.