[ncdnhc-discuss] Board retreats and fully transparent process for ICANN

[James Love]

Thomas, are you saying the US open records law (the FOIA for the federal
government) is a bad idea?   In many circles, it is highly envied.  A lot of
persons from outside the USA learn about their own government policies from
records obtained under the US FOIA.   Many of the reform efforts in Japan,
the UK, Pakistan and other places are efforts to obtain more access to
government records, modeld after the US FOIA experience.   I believe Sweeden
has had a good experience with open records laws, but perhaps others can
shed some light on that.

Also, most of the movement in terms of UN agencies is toward more openness,
not less openness.  The WHO web page now provides a lot of information about
its activities, and the fights are over making more information public, not
less, (particularly in the dispute resolution process).    There are of
course huge problems in some trade negotiations.  The FTAA negotiations and
indeed most regional and bilateral trade negotiations are not transparent at
all.  But this is considered an embarrassment, not a model to emulate.

Also, one thing that the US FOIA and many private litigations with discovery
teach people is that organizations naturally create records to manage their
own decisions making process.

  Jamie

----- Original M
essage -----
From: "Thomas Roessler" <roessler at does-not-exist.org>
To: "James Love" <james.love at cptech.org>
Cc: <discuss at icann-ncc.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2002 7:42 AM
Subject: Re: [ncdnhc-discuss] Board retreats and fully transparent process
for ICANN


: On 2002-05-28 07:05:45 -0400, James Love wrote:
:
: >Governments, at least in the US, often have open records laws.
: >The UK is trying to enact an open records law.  These apply to
: >government organizations, for good reasons.
:
: Overly broad regulations of that kind are also frequently
: short-sighted, and may have unintended side-effects: They may imply
: that the choice is not between an open and a closed record, but
: between an open record and no record at all.  Closed records mean,
: of course, less accountability than open ones.  No records imply no
: accountability at all.
:
: --
: Thomas Roessler                        <roessler at does-not-exist.org>
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