Fascinating case from Thailand for the #FOI and #anti-corruption folks. Following a 7 year saga of repeated ignored orders to disclose why an investigation was closed, two former officials of the Anti-Corruption Commission have been sentenced to 3 years jail. www.nationthailand.com/news/politic...

“Those of us outside of the AI industry don’t know what rules they are following. That’s not a black box. It’s just a policy decision.” techpolicy.press/the-black-bo... Or: it’s a remediable black box.

It's as unpleasant as it sounds.

SNEAKY - on 5 June the Council of the EU is holding a non-public event at its Brussels headquarters to mark the 25th anniversary of the EU’s transparency law, Regulation 1049/2001. Yes, you heard that right – there’s a closed-door event to celebrate transparency.

FOI annual statistics just released show a significant increase last year of 21% in requests to UK central government departments, with particularly large increases for Home Office and DWP.

The UK Information Commissioner has "voluntarily stepped aside … while an independent investigation into HR matters is undertaken" www.politico.eu/article/head... People had recently started to ask questions about Edwards's absence e.g. www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/foi_... #FOI #dataprotection

Great “progress” in US towards a comprehensive data protection. 50 years on from the Privacy Protection Study Commission and still no federal protections and now the plan is to get rid of existing law and the (modest) state protections.

Microsoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their data centers, Investigate Europe reports in collaboration with Tech Policy Press and other media partners.

With the current news cycle, it's difficult to give your attention to every issue. However, whistleblowers are always at the center, attempting to hold the powerful accountable to the the law. Read how whistleblowers impact every aspect of your life. ⬇️

NZ government is moving to restrict #FOI too: newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/30/g... cc @dbanisar.bsky.social @campaignfoi.bsky.social

Former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson calls for personal sanctions against ministers and CEOs who block OIA requests, citing "political interference".

Oklahoma is set to become the 21st state to pass a consumer privacy law. Unfortunately, the law is in the same mold as other state consumer privacy laws, a framework written by industry lobbyists that barely moves the needles on protecting privacy.

Have written more about what FOI cost limits are, and the effects of lowering them www.mysociety.org/2026/03/19/r...

Happy International Alien Abduction Day!

NEW: A federal judge said in an opinion issued today that the Trump administration violated the tax law “approximately 42,695 times” in turning over immigrant data to ICE

Need to decide on public and private data: SC Defining what constitutes "public data" and "private data" is crucial to determining the validity of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023 and corresponding rules 2025, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it agreed to examine a…

Some good news from Australia on #FOIA. A timely reminder that transparency needs people to fight for it.

Data Protection Map update for International Data Protection Day. As of the end of 2025, 172 countries and self governing jurisdictions around the world have adopted comprehensive data protection legislation. Five countries adopted comprehensive data protection for the first time in 2025.

Freedom of Information is all grown up - it turns 21 this year! Join us for a one day conference to celebrate, scrutinise, and share everything around #FOI in the UK: pretix.eu/mysociety/fo...

🔴"FOI is the democratic canary in the coal mine. When official information flows freely, it signals that power is shared. When it’s withheld or delayed, it signals the opposite: power concentrated in the few." Vital by Heather Brooke on Democracy 4 Sale democracyforsale.substack.com/p/why-the-br...

On my personal blog: FTT rather dismantles @ICOnews on both the facts and the law in this remarkable FOI judgment. Will the ICO have to rewrite their section 40 NCND guidance? informationrightsandwrongs.com/2025/11/29/n...

Scam ads on Meta in UK likely worth more than all online news advertising. Meta probably made more than £600m from fraudulent UK advertising in 2024 pressgazette.co.uk/platforms/sc...

Imagine coming up with a proposal so stupid, so unworkable, so thoughtless, that it makes Robert Jenrick look sane by comparison. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Transparency is critical for achieving sustainable marine fisheries, but it is not also as clear as it seems. This #WorldFisheriesDay, take a deep dive into our #tBrief series to learn more about the many facets of fisheries transparency 👇 fiti.global/tbrief-series

📢FOI in the news! Online grooming crimes double since 2018 with victims now as young as four, according to NSPCC obtained FOI data. Instant messenger Snapchat used in 40% of the cases where a tech platform was identified. news.sky.com/story/online...

While some elements of AI are genuinely new, the harms it enables are evolutions of those we have seen before, writes Sarah Barrington. It is time to recognize the myth of the “unprecedented” and hold tech accountable, she says.

✂️ The #EU Commission has set in motion a potentially massive #GDPR reform. Officially, the changes should only include targeted adjustments for several laws. In reality, the current draft would randomly mow down people's #privacy rights. 👉 Read more: noyb.eu/en/eu-commis...

Yes, I have read the leaked GDPR Omnibus. Yes, if unleashed as is, it will be an earthquake for EU data protection law (with 2 or 3 of the deep cuts). Which, ironically, would leave most countries that imported the GDPR with a stronger data protection regime than the GDPR.

The MoD has said it cannot say whether it has had any spreadsheet-based data breaches following the catastrophic Afghan citizen one, because it would take >237 hours to find out. On my personal blog informationrightsandwrongs.com/2025/11/07/m...

In January 2025 Djibouti in the Horn of Africa became the 174th country to enact a data privacy law: the Digital Code / Code Numerique covers data privacy as well as other e-commerce & cybersecurity topics www.journalofficiel.dj/texte-juridi... Thanks Dave Banisar @dbanisar.bsky.social

An important PSA for those of you in old Londinium and surrounds. 🤔

A halloween cartoon for @newscientist.com

Lovely obit for Judith Vidal-Hall, former Index on Censorship editor. An absolute force of nature who pioneered the platforming of global voices and always remembered journalism was supposed to be fun and deadly serious at the same time www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/10/exce...

“In order to protect fundamental rights, maintain legal certainty, and continue to ensure a high level of protection, any reform should be evidence-based, targeted, transparent, and further the EU’s values” (Christopher Kuner in this new FPF guest post) #GDPR #Draghi fpf.org/blog/the-dra...

Who knew? How Starmer kept his digital ID plan secret for months www.computerweekly.com/blog/Compute... Keir Starmer tweets on digital ID as Caerphilly Labour loss met with silence www.thenational.scot/news/2556856... ("sporty timelines"?)

Privacy groups criticise appointment of former Meta lobbyist to data protection watchdog

Has anybody talked about the EU aiming to weaken basically all data protection and enviromental regulations yet? #eu #europe #privacy #climate edri.org/our-work/con...

What’s the ROI on telling the truth in Big Tech/AI? Professor @katekenny.bsky.social of @uniofgalway.bsky.social spent 15 years running the numbers—and the moral math doesn’t look great... But she’s got ideas for changing it. 🔦 Full Q&A in our Substack (link below).

California's new AI law SB 53 expands protections for tech whistleblowers but makes it so difficult to file a successful claim that many valid cases will likely be dismissed, writes Sophie Luskin.

A piece of warning at this event about future of #democrcacy & #freespeech in age of AI: We have to stop talking about #AI as if it were destiny. In hands of unaccountable billionaires, it will be perfect dictatorship. Invisible, frictionless, personalised. And you may never know you are in it!

OPEN LETTER: #EU must safeguard the independence of data protection authorities Read more: edri.org/our-work/ope... w @aiforensics.org @alliance4europe.bsky.social @article19europe.bsky.social @bitsoffreedom.bsky.social @hateaid.org @openmarkets.bsky.social @lobbycontrol.bsky.social and many more

Excellent Guardian piece on Aadhar, India's digital ID system, that captures the dilemma extremely well. Digital-by-default methods create huge convenience for some, double-down on social exclusion for others, and it is easy for their scope to rapidly expand www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

“Today, the European Commission published guidelines to support the effective implementation of the Regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising, which will become fully applicable as of 10 October.” ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Germany's justice ministry held firm and killed EU chat control (for now): "Chat control without cause must be taboo in a state governed by the rule of law. Private communication must never be under general suspicion." Admirably concise and direct. German in the best possible way.

🚨 BREAKING: Chat Control BLOCKED in EU! 🎉 Germany just refused to back the EU's mass surveillance "Chat Control" regulation after public pressure! This blocks the required majority in the EU Council and derails next week's planned vote. NICE JOB EVERYONE! 💪

New map for International Right to Know Day. 132 UN countries now with FOI law+6 w/ regulation, covering 92% of world population. 2 new cos in last year Senegal and Costa Rica.

This was well played! www.theguardian.com/politics/202... #idcards

This takes FOIA fee bullying to a whole new level

New map for International Right to Know Day. 132 UN countries now with FOI law+6 w/ regulation, covering 92% of world population. 2 new cos in last year Senegal and Costa Rica.