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

Thu Nov 25 09:35:47 UTC 2010

I agree with Ivan, this might lead to an avalanche process in those
countries were corruption is high and government might feel threatened
easily by the use of open data in an analytical way!
We should blog about this risk while those in France should try to send
articles to the local newspapers or find a way to draw attention to this
matter. If France is to pass such a law, many other (small) countries
might
follow.

Rgds
Armand

On Thu, 25 Nov 2010 11:56:48 +0300, Ivan Begtin <ibegtin at gmail.com> wrote:
> I agree, it's very bad precedent. If our russian MP's and public
> bodies will know about this "example"... well, I think they could
> follow this way since we have strong "security lobby" worried about
> government publicity.
> 
> Is there any way how we could help to change this situation?
> 
> ---
> Ivan Begtin
> 
> Russian Open Government Data
> http://www.opengovdata.ru
> 
> 2010/11/23  <toby at law-democracy.org>:
>>
>> 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 à 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
>>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> ___________________________________
>> 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
>>
>>
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