Secrecy

Why There Won't Be More Information on Reconstruction Corruption

by Judith Siers-Poisson — November 6, 2006 - 6:39pm

It always pays to read the fine print. A clause buried in a military spending bill means that the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction will be closed in 2007. This office, originally part of the Coalition Provisional Authority before its dissolution, has since March 2004 referred 25 criminal cases to the U.S. Department of Justice, of which four have resulted in convictions.

Main Source: 
BBC News, November 3, 2006

Deported Activist Wins Access to Spook's Assessment

by Bob Burton — November 3, 2006 - 4:39am

The U.S.-based activist Scott Parkin has won a legal victory that requires the Australian government to provide his lawyers with access to the adverse security assessment used in September 2005 as the basis for revoking his visitors visa and deporting him. Justice Ross Sundberg granted Parkin and two Iraqi asylum seekers access to their adverse security assessments.

Main Source: 
The Age (Australia), November 3, 2006

Good and Bad News on Government Information

by Diane Farsetta — October 20, 2006 - 3:03pm

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is the first international court to declare that access to government information is a human right. The recent ruling was reached in a case brought by Chilean environmentalists against the U.S.-based logging company Trillium.

Main Source: 
Editor & Publisher, October 13, 2006

Legal Chill Worries Drug Bulletin

by Bob Burton — October 16, 2006 - 2:35am

The case of a judge granting an injunction to prevent a group of medical professionals publishing a critical review of the herbal drug Tebonin has the editor of a major drug bulletin worried. The editor of Australian Prescriber, John Dowden, notes that in two other instances where drug companies sued drug bulletins, the judgements favoured the publishers.

Main Source: 
Australian Prescriber, October 2006

Blowing in the Wind

by Bob Burton — October 9, 2006 - 5:34am

A five-year long study into the 1959 meltdown of a nuclear reactor near Simi Valley in California has concluded that it could have caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer. The report could not be more specific because the U.S. Department of Energy and Boeing, the parent company of Rocketdyne, refused to provide the weather data crucial to modelling where the radioactive pollution went.

Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2006

Covering Up for Foley?

by Sheldon Rampton — October 5, 2006 - 8:33pm

A screenshot from Foley's now-defunct campaign website

Republicans in the U.S. Congress continue to grapple with the controversy surrounding the resignation in disgrace of Rep. Mark Foley. Former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham, who subsequently became chief of staff to Rep.

Main Source: 
New York Times, October 5, 2006

Judge Queries News Corporation Subsidiary's Email Deletion Policy

by Bob Burton — September 27, 2006 - 10:30am

A judge has challenged the fairness of the policy of a News Corporation subsidiary under which all e-mails are deleted after only three days, with only those considered important printed out and included in hard copy files. Justice Ronald Sackville told News Limited's barrister, Noel Hutley, that the company should "Keep them.

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, September 27, 2006

Advertising on Trial: An Interview with Dr. Inger Stole

by Mandy Gutmann — September 22, 2006 - 10:03am
  • Topics: Advertising, Activism, Marketing, Politics, Secrecy, U.S. Government

    • From the interviewer:

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