[open-government] [foianet] France proposes police controls on who uses public information

Tue Nov 23 14:55:37 UTC 2010

it's outrageous... how can we help/react?

Ioana

On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 3:28 PM, <toby at law-democracy.org> wrote:

>
> Is this something that we should consider trying to do a sign-on letter
> about (perhaps to French MPs)? Seems very toxic and would set an
> incredibly bad precedent.
>
> Toby
>
> > Thanks for the relay Victoria,
> >
> > FYI, for external reasons (delays in previous debates), the Presidents
> > conference of the national assembly decided this morning that the
> > discussion
> > of the law will be delayed to at least the 14th of december :
> >
> http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2010/11/23/l-examen-de-la-loi-loppsi-repousse-au-14-decembre_1443997_651865.html#xtor=RSS-3208001?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
> >
> > This will give us a bit more time to alert MP's about this dangerous
> > article.
> >
> > Benjamin Ooghe-Tabanou for Regards Citoyens
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 14:11, Victoria Anderica
> > <victoria at access-info.org>wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>  [image: regards-citoyens]**
> >>
> >> * *
> >> * * * * *Press Release*
> >>
> >> *For immediate publication*
> >>
> >> *France proposes police controls on who uses public information*
> >>
> >> *Madrid/Paris, 23 November 2010* – A law to be discussed in the French
> >> parliament before the end of 2010 will result in the police carrying out
> >> “behaviour” checks on members of the public and organisations wanting to
> >> reuse information obtained from public bodies. The likely effect is to
> >> severely limit access to information and freedom of expression.
> >>
> >> The draft law currently before the French National Assembly amends the
> >> 1995
> >> Police Security Act and will extend the scope of police “behaviour”
> >> checks
> >> from legitimate purposes such as checking on those to have access to
> >> dangerous substances and high security zones to those who want to reuse
> >> information obtained from public bodies. The criteria for the background
> >> checks are not specified in the law.
> >>
> >> The information affected could include, for example, databases on public
> >> spending, copies of laws, or electoral results. Much data held by local
> >> authorities which is of great interest to the public such as schedules
> >> and
> >> real-time locations of trains and buses, information about recycling
> >> schemes, and construction works permits would also fall under these new
> >> controls.
> >>
> >> The associations Access Info Europe and Regards Citoyens today expressed
> >> concerns that the law, if adopted, will significantly complicate and
> >> slow
> >> access to information in France.
> >>
> >> “This is an extremely dangerous law which would seriously limit freedom
> >> of
> >> expression in France,” said Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of
> >> Access
> >> Info Europe.
> >>
> >> “Subjecting those who wish to access and reuse public datasets to
> >> vaguely-defined morality controls runs counter to the basic principles
> >> of
> >> the freedom of expression and information enshrined in the French
> >> Constitution, and is a violation of European Court of Human Rights
> >> jurisprudence and EU law,” added Darbishire.
> >>
> >> Access Info Europe notes that in 2010 many leading democracies such as
> >> the
> >> US and the UK, Norway and Spain, Australia and New Zealand, are posting
> >> on
> >> line large volumes of public data making them free for anyone in the
> >> world
> >> to use. They do this out of recognition of the societal and economic
> >> benefits that flow from the reuse of public sector information.
> >>
> >> “If this provision were to be adopted, France would be closing down
> >> public
> >> access to information rather than opening it up,” concluded Benjamin
> >> Ooghe-Tabanou, co-founder of Regards Citoyens.
> >>
> >> Notes for Editors:
> >>
> >> 1. Access Info Europe <http://www.access-info.org/> is a human rights
> >> organisation head-quartered in Madrid which promote the right of access
> >> to
> >> information and open government data in Europe. Access Info Europe
> >> believes
> >> that more public information means better participation in and greater
> >> accountability of public bodies.
> >>
> >> 2. Regards Citoyens <http://www.regardscitoyens.org/qui-sommes-nous/>
> is
> >> a
> >> civic association which promotes the opening of public data to secure
> >> greater transparency of democratic institutions in France.
> >>
> >> 3. The proposed reform is to 1995 Security Law (*Loi n°95-73 du 21
> >> janvier
> >> 1995 d'orientation et de programmation relative ŕ la
> >> sécurité<
> http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000005617582&dateTexte=20101122
> >
> >> *).* *
> >>
> >> 4.* *The amendment would impact on the right of access to public
> >> information granted under the 1978 Access to Administrative Documents
> >> Law<
> http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=LEGITEXT000006068643&dateTexte=20101122
> >
> >> * *as modified by European Union Directive 2003/98/EC of the European
> >> Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the re-use of
> >> public
> >> sector
> >> information<
> http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:345:0090:0096:EN:PDF
> >.
> >> The EU Directive requires that governments to create “fair,
> >> proportionate
> >> and non-discriminatory conditions for the re-use of [public sector]
> >> information.” The European Commission is currently reviewing this
> >> Directive. This case and the broader impact of this Directive on the
> >> fundamental right of access to information should be carefully reviewed
> >> by
> >> the Commission.
> >>
> >> 5. The Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official
> >> Documents<
> http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/QueVoulezVous.asp?NT=205&CM=8&DF=22/11/2010&CL=ENG
> >from
> >> 2009, not yet signed by France, requires that all requesters be treated
> >> equally and without discrimination. It is illegitimate under this and
> >> other
> >> international standards to ask why someone wants information or what
> >> they
> >> will do with it.
> >>
> >> 6. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that access to
> >> information
> >> held by public bodies when these are monopolies is an inherent part of
> >> the
> >> right to freedom of expression: information is needed to participate in
> >> democratic public debate. See, *inter alia* *Társaság a
> >> Szabadságjogokért
> >> v. Hungary (App no 37374/05), ECHR, 14 April
> >> 2009.<
> http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=849278&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649
> .>
> >> *
> >>
> >> 7. Examples of online portals for accessing public data include
> >> www.data.gov, www.data.gov.uk, www.data.gov.au, www.data.gov.nz.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> For more information – in English or French - please contact:
> >>
> >> *Victoria Anderica*, Access Info Europe, victoria at access-info.org
> >>
> >> Office phone: +34 91 366 5344
> >>
> >> Mobile: +34 606 592 976
> >>
> >> *Helen Darbishire*, Access Info Europe
> >> (www.access-info.org<http://ACCESS
> %20INFO%20MATERIALS/Press%20Releases/AppData/AppData/Local/Temp/
> www.access-info.org>
> >> )
> >>
> >> helen at access-info.org, mobile: +34 667 685 319
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > open-government mailing list
> > open-government at lists.okfn.org
> > http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
> >
>
>
> ___________________________________
> Toby Mendel
>
> Centre for Law and Democracy
> toby at law-democracy.org
> Tel:  +1 902 431-3688
> Fax: +1 902 431-3689
> www.law-democracy.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/open-government/attachments/20101123/c1360084/attachment-0001.html>