Secrecy

International News Media as Collateral Damage

by Diane Farsetta — July 3, 2006 - 5:58pm

While "the latest target is the New York Times," for reports on a U.S. program tracking international financial records, journalists and media outlets around the world have been criticized -- and prosecuted -- for publishing stories related to the so-called Global War on Terror.

Main Source: 
Associated Press, July 1, 2006

Drug Companies Fail Transparency Test

by Bob Burton — June 27, 2006 - 5:27am

A report by Consumers International, a global federation of consumer organisations, examined the corporate social responsibility policies of 20 major drug companies to test what information they disclose about sponsoring patient groups, funding disease awareness campaigns and offering hospitality to medical experts.

Main Source: 
Consumers International, June 26, 2006

Ethics All Clear for Election Front Group

by Bob Burton — June 21, 2006 - 3:27am

The Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) has dismissed an ethics complaint that a front group authorized by the Chief Executive of Corporate Communications Tasmania, Tony Harrison, breached the PR industry's self-regulator

Main Source: 
The Mercury, June 20, 2006

Shredding Policy Haunts British American Tobacco

by Bob Burton — May 31, 2006 - 5:47am

British American Tobacco (BAT) has suffered a major legal setback after a Sydney judge found that the company's "document retention policy," under which sensitive documents were shredded, had been developed "in furtherance of the commission of a fraud." In a case before the New South Wales Dust Diseases Tribunal, Justice Jim Curtis heard uncontested evidence from former BAT solicitor Fred Gulson that the policy was designed so that the company could shred potentially damaging documents.

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, May 30, 2006

Growing Old With FOIA

by Bob Burton — March 15, 2006 - 4:14am

The U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which is 40 years old, "is plagued by chronic backlogs, unjustified rejections and inconsistent responses, according to interviews with open government advocates and lawmakers and a new study by the National Security Archive," reports the Austin American-Statesman. The oldest outstanding FOIA request is from law professor William Aceves who, sixteen years ago, requested information on a defense program that monitors international waterways.

Main Source: 
Austin American-Statesman, March 13, 2006

U.S. Spy Agencies Disappear History

by Diane Farsetta — February 21, 2006 - 5:19pm

"In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years." Since 1999, more than 50,000 once-declassified pages have been reclassified as secret. Intelligence historian Matthew Aid said some of the decades-old documents are "mundane, and some of it is outright ridiculous." The New York Times reports, "While some of the choices made by the security reviewers ... are baffling, others seem ...

Main Source: 
New York Times, February 21, 2006
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