NationStates Jolt Archive

The General Assembly of the N.S.U.N.,

RECALLING Past Resolution #97 – Universal Library Coalition – for its ability to provide the populace with a great informational archive,

REGOCNIZING the limitations presented by the ULC regarding allowed informational entries and financial requirements,

ALSO RECOGNIZING the positive effects that the ability of obtaining freely available relevant information brings to the people of a nation, including the ability of widespread communication abilities and the growth of knowledge,

CONCERNED by the lack of information locally available to the average citizen of some nations, especially those nations not members of the ULC and those who do not regularly use the internet for informational accessibility, thus leading to the ineptitude of some citizens in certain areas of desirable understanding,

STRONGLY URGES

1) Nations to maintain current census figures which include invaluable data such as number of citizens, and citizen’s name, address, and telephone number,
a) Permits nations to allow citizens to have their information be expunged from publicly viewable census statistics if they so desire,
2) Nations to permanently disclose to the public free invaluable scientific and educational accurate information, particularly dealing with health-related topics and other information that is necessary to the well-being of the populace,
a) Permits nations to restrict the public viewing of top-secret information, especially such information dealing with heavily dangerous weaponry, and information valuable to a war effort,
3) Grant the populace public forums to locally view the material as stated herein, be it through local public libraries or by governmentally controlled internet sites,

ENCOURAGES

1) Nations to provide some type of accurate daily news reports in order for the populations to remain contemporary with regard to political news, scientific discoveries, etc,
2) Support local and federal initiatives to fund the creation of new public libraries or informational archives, as well as any new news stations that could benefit the accurate advancement of public knowledge.

STRONGLY URGES

1) Nations to maintain current census figures which include invaluable data such as number of citizens, and citizen’s name, address, and telephone number,
a) Permits nations to allow citizens to have their information be expunged from publicly viewable census statistics if they so desire,
2) Nations to permanently disclose to the public free invaluable scientific and educational accurate information, particularly dealing with health-related topics and other information that is necessary to the well-being of the populace,
a) Permits nations to restrict the public viewing of top-secret information, especially such information dealing with heavily dangerous weaponry, and information valuable to a war effort,


Hmmm, typically if there is a 1.a. then there should be a 1.b. Were you planning to add to clauses 1 and 2? If not, I'd recommend a minor rewrite to just make a long clause 1.

http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/9539/toothless5kd.jpg

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=339523

This is an old draft, from 2004. Is there anything in this which would help?

RECOGNIZING the need to foster democracy by ensuring public access to government agency RECORDS and INFORMATION in all member nations;

MAXIMIZING the usefulness of agency records and information collected, maintained, used, retained, and disseminated by the Governments of member nations;

OBSERVING that the FOIA is a valuable means through which any person can learn how their Government operates;

UNDERSTANDING that the FOIA will lead to the DISCLOSURE of waste, fraud, abuse, and wrongdoing in the member Governments;

AWARE that the FOIA will lead to the identification of unsafe consumer products, harmful drugs, and serious health hazards;

TAKING NOTE that government agencies increasingly use computers to conduct agency business and to store publicly valuable agency records and information;

RECOMMENDING that member government agencies should use new technology to enhance public access to agency records and information.

IN ADDITION The FOIA is to provide for public access to information in an electronic, or otherwise computer accessible format.

CONCLUDING that without free dissemination of information to the public, government agencies are able to commit illegal and immoral acts and;

FURTHER CONCLUDING that these acts will have severe consequences upon the public without its knowledge or understanding.

EACH UN Government agency shall make publicly available upon request, the following forms, records and shall uphold policies including;

(1) A DESCRIPTION and INDEX of major information and record locator systems maintained by the agency; and

(2) A HAND BOOK for obtaining various types and categories of public information from the agency.

(3) RULES OF PROCEDURE, descriptions of forms available or the places at which forms may be obtained, and instructions as to the scope and contents of all papers, reports, or examinations;

(4) FINAL OPINIONS, including concurring and dissenting opinions, as well as orders, made in the adjudication of cases, and;

(5) RECORDS shall be provided by agency WITHOUT ANY CHARGE.

EXEMPTIONS--The FOIA shall provide access to government agency records (or parts of those records) except those protected from release by six specific exemptions.

(1)(A) Documents and records specifically authorized under criteria established by a Government order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and (B) are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Government order;

(2) Related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency.

(3) Documents and records specifically exempted from disclosure by statute, provided that such statute requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue, or establish particular criteria for withholding.

(4) Trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;

(5) Personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(6) Contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions.

And the RL US FoIA: http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foia_updates/Vol_XVII_4/page2.htm

This proposal violates the internal privacy of citizens. It is not my wish to disseminate government information to foreign nations. An internal FOIA is appropriate. But, the ability for foreign nations to have access to government, census, and mapping information leaves our nation open to international corporate and military espionage. There must be more clearly delineated guidelines as to what will be made available to all member nations. Because this is a UN document on some level every bit of the information listed will become available to UN affiliated nations. A citizen of the assembly of the commonalitarianism has much greater leeway in requesting information than a foreign power. Health, census, and education figures will be readily available, but certain economic and military data will not be readily forthcoming.

This is an old draft, from 2004. Is there anything in this which would help?[/url]

Wow! Great proposal, it can be very useful to my draft.

Health, census, and education figures will be readily available, but certain economic and military data will not be readily forthcoming.

We agree, as is the point of the exceptions.

Wow! Great proposal, it can be very useful to my draft.
I think this is a good idea. I'd be interested to see some of the exceptions used in the old draft incorporated into yours: a lot of them I hadn't thought of.

Ok, I've attempted to fuse my proposal and the one Gruenberg supplied into one super-FoIA. I've split it into two parts: FoIA regarding governmental information, and FoIA regarding non-governmental information. Many parts of the FoIA from '04 remain intact.

It's three pages long and 4000+ characters, so let me know if the proposal doesn't flow properly. Also, any comments would be appreciated.


The General Assembly of the United Nations,

RECALLING Past Resolution #97 – Universal Library Coalition – for its ability to provide the populace with a great informational archive,

RECOGNIZING the limitations presented by the ULC regarding allowed informational entries and financial requirements,

ALSO RECOGNIZING the positive effects that the ability of obtaining freely available relevant governmental documents and other information brings to the people of a nation, including the ability of widespread communication abilities and the growth of knowledge,

CONCERNED by the lack of information readily available to the average citizen of some nations, especially those nations not members of the ULC and those who do not regularly use the internet for informational accessibility, thus leading to the ineptitude of some citizens in certain areas of desirable understanding,

ESTABLISHES the need for legislation which guarantees a citizens’ right to view relevant governmental information from public agencies and to visit a public forum to view helpful informational and educational material:

Part I – Governmental Informational Accessibility

CALLS ON each official public governmental agency of N.S.U.N. members to make publicly available upon request, the following governmental forms, records, and policies, including:

(1) A DESCRIPTION and INDEX of major information and record locator systems maintained by the agency,

(2) A HAND BOOK for obtaining various types and categories of public information from the agency,

(3) RULES OF PROCEDURE, descriptions of forms available or the places at which forms may be obtained, and instructions as to the scope and contents of all papers, reports, or examinations,

(4) FINAL OPINIONS, including concurring and dissenting opinions, as well as orders, made in the adjudication of cases, and,

(5) RECORDS which shall be provided by all public governmental agencies freely to the public.

EXEMPTIONS

(1) Documents and records specifically authorized under criteria established by a Government order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such government order;

(2) Documents related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency,

(3) Documents and records specifically exempted from disclosure by statute,

(4) Trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential,

(5) Personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,

(6) Contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions,

UNDERSTANDING that the enactment of Part I of this legislation will lead to the discovery of widespread waste, fraud, abuse, and wrongdoing in the N.S.U.N. member governments,

AWARE that the enactment of Part I of this legislation will lead to the identification of unsafe consumer products, harmful drugs, and serious health hazards,

CONCLUDING that without free dissemination of information to the public, government agencies are able to commit illegal and immoral acts and,

FURTHER CONCLUDING that these acts will have severe consequences upon the public without its knowledge or understanding,

Part II – Non-Governmental Informational Accessibility

CALLS ON national and local governments of N.S.U.N. members to provide the public with the following informational utilities:

(1) Current census figures which include invaluable data such as number of citizens, and each citizens and business’ name, address, and telephone numbers. Citizens who desire to have their information be expunged from public records will be provided this ability,

(2) Free invaluable scientific and educationally accurate information, particularly dealing with health-related topics and other information that is necessary to the well-being of the populace. Nations considering restricting the public viewing of top-secret information, or information valuable to a war effort, will be provided this ability.

(3) A public forum to locally view the material stated in Part II,

(4) Accurate daily news reports to ensure the public retains contemporary knowledge, especially with regard to political news, scientific discoveries, and health issues,

(5) Federal initiatives to fund the creation of new libraries, and other informational archives,

UNDERSTANDING that the enactment of Part II of this legislation will lead to a substantial increase in public knowledge in various areas of understanding, as well as communicational advancements,

CONVINCED that this knowledge will allow the public to make informed decisions on many issues, particularly dealing with health concerns,

HEREBY ENACTS Parts I and II of the Freedom of Information Act.

Please don't turn a census into a phonebook. Surely there are much more relevant materials to legislate on.

Please don't turn a census into a phonebook. Surely there are much more relevant materials to legislate on.

My main focus in that clause is to allow citizens to communicate with other citizens they know of. How else might you go about this other then a phonebook-like item?

My main focus in that clause is to allow citizens to communicate with other citizens they know of. How else might you go about this other then a phonebook-like item?

In RL, phonebook/directory information is often left to private enterprise. Mandating governments to perform such menial tasks is, in my opinion, unworthy of this body. A census, on the other hand, is a massive effort (often done every 10 years, or at comparable intervals) which provides detailed, albeit anonymous, demographics on the population of a country. This is a public service, and as such always performed by official entities. A laudable endeavour, for sure, but you have yet to convince me that it is of international relevance.

I guess my problem with this is that I fail to see the purpose, and your premble sounds unconvincing. How does anyone benefit from international law on this issue? Why should resource constrained nations make this effort against their will? These are the questions you should be addressing.

I don't dislike the idea of this proposal, in fact its a good one.

I do have one problem with it though. Its this bit...
(1) Current census figures which include invaluable data such as number of citizens, and each citizens and business’ name, address, and telephone numbers. Citizens who desire to have their information be expunged from public records will be provided this ability,
I have no problems with raw census data being available, but would you consider changing that to exclude the personally identifiable information (name, address, phone ect), unless the person give consent to it being released.

I don't think its fair that citizens should have to make an effort to protect their privacy from others, especially those who would be endangered by it being available, such as battered wives and criminal witnesses. This information being feely available could also be abused by businesses, mass advertising, mailing campaigns ect.

I don't dislike the idea of this proposal, in fact its a good one.

I do have one problem with it though. Its this bit...

I have no problems with raw census data being available, but would you consider changing that to exclude the personally identifiable information (name, address, phone ect), unless the person give consent to it being released.

I don't think its fair that citizens should have to make an effort to protect their privacy from others, especially those who would be endangered by it being available, such as battered wives and criminal witnesses. This information being feely available could also be abused by businesses, mass advertising, mailing campaigns ect.

Agreed.

I don't think its fair that citizens should have to make an effort to protect their privacy from others, especially those who would be endangered by it being available, such as battered wives and criminal witnesses. This information being feely available could also be abused by businesses, mass advertising, mailing campaigns ect.

Perhaps this will solve the problem:

(1) Current census figures which include invaluable data such as number of citizens, and each citizens and business’ name, address, and telephone numbers, all of which are subject to each citizen's personal agreement of participation.

That sounds much better.

(1) Current census figures which include invaluable data such as number of citizens, and each citizens and business’ name, address, and telephone numbers, all of which are subject to each citizen's personal agreement of participation.

Agreed, we now have no objections to the draft and thank Waterana for voicing our concern so eloquently.

May the blessings of our otters be upon you.

Leonard Otterby
Ambassador for the Republic of Compadria to the U.N.

As you noted, your draft is too long and doesn't flow well. Furthermore, I (and possibly others) have different views about parts I and II. Why don't you break it up? I believe part I is a decent "Furtherment of Democracy" proposal, while part II seems less relevant, very ambiguous, and bordering on micromanagement.

Perhaps this will solve the problem:

(1) Current census figures which include invaluable data such as number of citizens, and each citizens and business’ name, address, and telephone numbers, all of which are subject to each citizen's personal agreement of participation.


What about resident non-citizens, such as [relatively] recent immigrants?