Freedom of Information

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Connexions Library

Aaron Swartz and the Assault on Open Information: Malicious Government Prosecution
Geovanis, Chris
Article
2013
The great corporate-supported push to hide essential, publicly funded information behind private firewalls and government secrecy, represents a breathtaking breach of the basic tenets of democracy.
Aaron Swartz and the Fight for Free Information: His Blood is on the Hands of the US Government
Martin, Abby
Article
2015
It’s been just over two years since computer prodigy Aaron Swartz took his own life. He was the target of a merciless witch-hunt by the Department of Justice, ultimately choosing death over 35 years b...
Aaron Swartz and the Fight for Information Freedom: They Can't Stop the Movement
Lopez, Alfredo
Article
2013
Aaron Swartz was a target of a deliberately vicious, sadistic government campaign in which the federal government wanted to make his pain an example to the entire progressive techie community. What's ...
Alasdair S. Roberts
Website
Provides resources relating to Professor Alasdair Roberts' current research on freedom of information law.
Banamex v. Narco News Precedent Protects WikiLeaks, Too
Article
2010
The story – one that defines the times we live in - has been going on for a while now: State power (and that includes private-sector “states” such as corporations and commercial media organizations) c...
The Boy Who Could Change the World
Article
2016
Remembering the brief life of Aaron Swartz: programmer, activist, entrepreneur, community builder.
Canada Should 'Get Tough' on Political Crimes, Say Watchdogs: Four needed crackdowns, starting with illegal surveillance and electoral crime.
Nutall, Jeremy J.
Article
2015
A new round of Conservative Party advertisements return to a familiar tough-on-crime refrain.
Challenged Books List
Article
2004
A partial list of books subjected to censorship attempts in Canada from the early 1980s to 2003.
A climate of fear endangers press freedom
Article
2009
Today, the greatest threats to freedom of the press are more insidious than a generation ago because they are intended to induce a climate of fear and self-censorship through systematic violence and e...
Connexions Annual Resource and Reading List
Article
1989
A short and selective list of resources on issues addressed in the Connexions Annual, such as environment, education, peace, interntional development, women's issues, urban issues, housing, human rig...
Copyright policies threaten internet use in Panama and Colombia
Rossini, Carolina
Article
2012
After years of being one of the most progressive regions in the world in terms of balanced copyright policy, Latin America is unfortunately sliding into copyright maximalism, enacting increasingly res...
Dismantling Democracy: Stifling Debate and Dissent in Canada
Article
2015
An extensive dossier of the Harper government's attacks on democracy, debate, and dissent.
Freedom of Information Takes Another Hit in the United States: Keeping Americans Safe
Lindorff, Dave
Article
2013
The United States is a land of ill-informed sheep and the home of a bunch of cowards — cowards in government who are afraid of the truth and the open debate over facts and ideas, and cowards among the...
Information Terrorists?: The Vile Campaign Against Julian Assange and Wikileaks
Lindorff, Dave
Article
2010
WikiLeaks is under concerted attack from the US government. Also under attack by the US government is the whole idea of freedom of thought and of information. It needs to be clearly understood that th...
Monsanto and Its Promoters vs. Freedom of Information
Nader, Ralph
Article
2015
Next year, the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will celebrate its 50th anniversary as one of the finest laws our Congress has ever passed. It is a vital investigative tool for exposing gover...
New wave of attacks on freedom of information
Article
2013
With the trial of former president Mohamed Morsi and major leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood under wa, Egyptian media workers are targets of attack. Freedom of information is threatened. Measures incl...
Parliamentary Names & Numbers Online
Serial Publication (Periodical)
Lists all federal Members of Parliament and Senators, all provincial legislators, federal ministries, federal agencies and Crown corporations, Canadian embassies abroad, provincial and territorial min...
PayPal admits US pressure over WikiLeaks account freeze
Addley, Esther
Article
2010
PayPal today admitted it suspended payments to WikiLeaks after an intervention from the US State Department.
Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider's Stand Against the World's Mot Powerful Industry
Nikiforuk, Andrew
Book
2015
A story of abuses by the fossil fuel industry and governments, telling the story of fracking rhough the lens of a legal battle to expose the truth. Nikiforuk raises stark questions about the role of B...
The Socialist Register 1981: Volume 18: A Survey of Movements & Ideas
Miliband, Ralph; Saville, John (eds.)
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1981
Truth in Chains: The Arrest of Julian Assange
Floyd, Chris
Article
2010
Tell a truth that discomforts power, that challenges its domination over our lives, our discourse, our very thoughts, and you will be destroyed. No institution, public or private, will stand with you;...
The Truth Will Always Win
Assange, Julian
Article
2010
In its landmark ruling in the Pentagon Papers case, the US Supreme Court said "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government". The swirling storm around WikiLeaks t...
WikiLeaks continues exposure of predatory US foreign policy
Martin, Patrick
Article
2010
In the face of an unprecedented campaign of US harassment and intimidation, the Internet-based WikiLeaks group is continuing its efforts to expose the predatory role of American foreign policy around ...

Connexions Directory of Groups & Websites

Campaign for Freedom of Information
The Campaign for Freedom of Information is a non-profit organisation working to improve public access to official information and ensure that the Freedom of Information Act is implemented effectively.
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Working to promote freedom of expression. CCPJ's main project is the IFEX Clearing House which operates an Action Alert Network and disseminates information on freedom of the press to organizations an...
Connexions Archive & Library
The Connexions Archive & Library is Toronto-based project dedicated to keeping alive the rich history of grassroots movements for social justice. Connexions preserves 'alternative' histories that r...
Freedominfo.org
This site is a one-stop portal that describes best practices, consolidates lessons learned, explains campaign strategies and tactics, and links the efforts of freedom of information advocates around t...
Parliamentary Names & Numbers
Parliamentary Names & Numbers is your guide to governments in Canada. It's an invaluable resource, available online, for anyone who needs information about Canada's politicians, senior bureaucrats, an...
Peace Magazine
Bimonthly publication focusing on peace and justice from a multi-partisan perspective.
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is an international organization that defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world, as well as the right to inform the public and to be informed, in ...
Sources Select Resources
SOURCES SELECT Resources, published by Sources, features articles about and reviews of information resources, research techniques, and other issues of interest to journalists and researchers. SOURCES ...

Sources Experts & Spokespersons

Sources Library

Attorney General applies presumption of openness in Freedom of Information Act guidelines
Sources News Release
2009
Reporters Without Borders today welcomed US Attorney General Eric Holderâ##s guidelines on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in which he breaks with the Bush Administrationâ##s stance of withholdi...
Barrett Brown case: 11 of 12 counts dismissed
Sources News Release
2014
Reporters Without Borders greets with relief federal prosecutors' decision to drop nearly all criminal charges against Barrett Brown, a contributor to The Guardian and Vanity Fair.
Be inventive and patient
Dimitrova, Alexenia
2012
Bulgarian investigative journalist and author Alexenia Dimitrova reveals how she uses Freedom of Information laws in several countries to uncover hidden secrets of the Cold War, how the imprisonment o...
Before Parliament Hill attack, RCMP got 3 warnings, reduced patrols
Documents show Mounties reduced patrols prior to shootings, despite 3 separate warnings
Beeby, Dean
2015
Mounties received at least three warnings of potential terrorist attacks on uniformed officers before last year's shootings on Parliament Hill, yet the RCMP wound down extra patrols around the parliam...
Content Magazine - Number 108
September/ October 1980
1980
Fanning the flames of intolerance
The burning of books -- an ultimate form of control and condemnation
Henley, John
2010
A historical overview of book burnings by political and religious regimes.
Freedom of information essential for peace in Turkey
Sources News Release
2015
At a time of alarming developments centred on the Kurdish issue, Reporters Without Borders is publishing a report exploring the relationship between this issue and media freedom in Turkey.
Freedom of Information Legislation
Sources Select Resources Encyclopedia
Rules that guarantee access to data held by the state.
The Harper Years: Tough Times For Reporters In Canada
Sources News Release
2015
As federal elections will be held in Canada on October 19, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reviews the evolution of freedom of the press and information during Prime Minister Stephen Harper's tenure. ...
How to unearth public records: a global guide
Chavkin, Sasha
2013
Among the most basic building blocks of powerful investigative reporting are public records – government documents that provide bulletproof evidence of anything from a change in water quality to the o...
IFJ Condemns United States "Desperate and Dangerous" Backlash over WikiLeaks
Sources News Release
2010
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the political backlash being mounted against the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks and accused the United States of attacking free spe...
The internet's cyber radicals: heroes of the web changing the world
A generation of political activists have been transformed by new tools developed on the internet.
Krotoski, Aleks
2010
Internet activists speak about censorship, the democratising impact of open source technology, and the importance of oportunities for anonimity in a post 9-11 world.
Iraq: News website latest target in government's legal offensive against independent media
Sources News Release
2009
Reporters Without Borders condemns the Iraqi governmentâ##s continuing legal offensive against independent news media, which for the first time is also targeting Internet media.
New wave of attacks on freedom of information
Sources News Release
2013
With the trial of former president Mohamed Morsi and major leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood under way, Egyptian media workers are targets of attack. Freedom of information is threatened. Measures inc...
Recommendations on the right to be forgotten
a Quadrature du Net and Reporters Without Borders
2014
On the problems for the protection of freedom of expression and the right to information posed by the right to be removed from search engine results and, more broadly, the right to be forgotten. Priva...
10 years in prison for circulating information in public interest
2013
Jeremy Hammond, a 28-year-old WikiLeaks informant and cyber-activist linked to Anonymous, has become the fourth whistleblower to receive a long jail sentence this year in the United States.

From the Connexions Archives

Fame & Fortune Online
Website
Comprehensive listing of awards available to Canadian journalists.
Sources Select Resources
Reviews and information about print and online resources for journalists and researchers
Website
1977
Reviews and information about print and online resources for journalists and researchers.