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  • We have an FOI law since 2008

  • basically it says that every information or data that the state produces belongs to the citizen

  • The FOI law in Hungary is quite a progressive one

  • but the problem is that it has been amended in 2013

  • The FOI requests that are vexatious

  • can be denied by the authority.

  • The access to information law that was passed in Rwanda in 2013

  • is actually very strong, compared to what I've been hearing this morning

  • at AlaveteliCon, so

  • it requests that people provide the information in three days

  • maximum

  • Information officers can say that it's going to take a little bit longer, but that only buys them another week.

  • So, three days for everyone in the public

  • two days if you're a journalist

  • One day if someone's life or liberty are at risk.

  • In Australia, we're lucky to have quite good FOI laws

  • but they're disastrously not used, and

  • so we created RightToKnow to make people more aware of their FOI rights

  • and hopefully to get them to start making requests

  • which Australians typically don't do.

  • So, anyone has the right to access information that public authorities hold

  • and that's in the form of documents

  • So, whilst you can't ask for information, you can ask for any document that they hold currently.

We have an FOI law since 2008

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