www.opengovernmentrecords.net

 

These example demonstrates why freedom of information matters to a society.

 

 

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MP Expenses and the United Kingdom's House of Commons

 

In the United Kingdom, freedom of information legislation came into effect on January 1, 2005. Journalist Heather Brooke used the freedom of information act to gain access to copies of the member of parliament's expenses.  What happened next?

 

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Tasers and Vancouver's Translink

 

Required by British Columbia's freedom of information legislation, metro-Vancouver's public transit authority gives the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documents that revealed that transit security used tasers on non-violent passengers who did not pay their fares.

 

You can watch the video by clicking here or below.

 

At 1:55 into the video reporter Terry Milewski says:

Terry Milewski, CBC

"CBC news, using access to information, has obtained reports on all of the taser firings by the transit police since the beginning of last year. There have been ten of them. Of those, three of them did involve non-violent suspects who did not pay their fare."   And here's the actual text of the freedom of information request.

That's freedom of information in action!

 

 

Aired April 13, 2008.