TONGA: Minfo launches first govt PROawareness workshop

 

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From: pacific_media_watch-bounces@lists.apc.org.au [mailto:pacific_media_watch-bounces@lists.apc.org.au] On Behalf Of Pacific Media Watch nius
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 10:37 AM
To: <Pacific Media Watch
Subject: [Pacific_media_watch] 6277 TONGA: Minfo launches first govt PROawareness workshop

Title – 6277 TONGA: Minfo launches first govt PRO awareness workshop

Date – 29 May 2009

Byline – Media release

Origin – Pacific Media Watch

Source – Tonga Ministry of Information, 26/05/09

Copyright – TMinfo

Status – Abridged

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MINISTRY LAUNCHES FIRST GOVERNMENT PRO AWARENESS WORKSHOP
www.minfo.gov.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=719:ministry

NUKU'ALOFA (TMinfo Online/Pacific Media Watch): The Government of Tonga's newly established Ministry of Information and Communications under its new Minister, the Hon. 'Eseta Fusitu'a, held a small display exhibition at the FWC Moulton Hall, Vaha'akolo Road on the 26 May 2009 to launch the first Government Public Relations Officers (PRO) workshop.

The purpose of this was to create awareness of the ministry's core role and functions as well as cultivating networks and relationship with key stakeholders from the Government as promoted by the theme of the workshop, "Networking in the collection and dissemination of government Information".

The Ministry of Information was setup in November 2007 as the government's major information agency providing the link between the government, the media and the public.

Its main role is to consolidate all information sources from government and disseminate on the website, www.minfo.gov.to where it publishes all official government news and information from the Government of Tonga.

In May 2009, it then combined with the Department of Communications to become one ministry.

The Minister for Information & Communications, Lady 'Eseta Fusitu'a, officially opened this one-day workshop which was attended by high level government officials which include the Tonga Defence Services and Police Force commanders, government ministeries directors and chief executive officers from various ministries.

There are now over 35 PROs from across the 16 government ministries who work together with the Ministry of Information in preparing press releases and government documents for dissemination and to the general public, as published on the Information website. 

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Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) Comments on World Bank Disclosure Proposal, Offers Model Policy

-----Original Message-----
From: freedominfo.org [mailto:FREEDOMINFO@HERMES.GWU.EDU] On Behalf Of
freedominfo.org
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 6:28 AM
To: FREEDOMINFO@HERMES.GWU.EDU
Subject: Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) Comments on World Bank
Disclosure Proposal, Offers Model Policy

freedominfo.org - Update, May 28, 2009

Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) Comments on World Bank Disclosure
Proposal, Offers Model Policy

http://www.freedominfo.org

Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) Comments on World Bank Disclosure
Proposal, Offers Model Policy

The Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) has filed comments critical of
World Bank's preliminary proposal to rewrite its disclosure policy and also
suggested a "model policy" alternative. Despite praising the Bank's movement
toward a system more like good national right-to-know statutes, the GTI
identified "a number of shortcomings" in the "approach paper" advanced by
the Bank. The GTI is a network of civil society organizations promoting
openness at the international financial institutions.

http://www.freedominfo.org

_________________________________________________________________________

freedominfo.org is a one-stop portal that describes best practices,
consolidates lessons learned, explains campaign strategies and tactics, and
links the efforts of freedom of information advocates around the world. It
contains crucial information on freedom of information laws and how they
were drafted and implemented, including how various provisions have worked
in practice.

_________________________________________________________________________

PRIVACY NOTICE freedominfo.org does not and will never share the names or
e-mail addresses of its subscribers with any other organization. We would
welcome your input, and any information you care to share with us about your
special interests. But we do not sell or rent any information about
subscribers to any other party.

_________________________________________________________________________

USA: 2009 Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act

2009 Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act
<http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foiapost/2009foiapost10.htm>
Procedure for Ordering Copies

The Office of Information Policy is planning to publish the 2009 edition of
the Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act through
the Government Printing Office (GPO) in June.

The 2009 Guide will contain detailed discussions of the FOIA's exemptions,
as well as its procedural requirements, and FOIA litigation considerations.
The 2009 Guide will also discuss proactive disclosures, FOIA fees and fee
waivers, exclusions, discretionary disclosures and waiver, FOIA attorney
fees, and reverse FOIA cases.

If your agency would like to have multiple copies of this publication, you
may obtain them at the original printing cost by "riding" the Department of
Justice's GPO requisition order. All federal department and agencies will
have to make individual requisition arrangements with GPO using Standard
Form One (SF-1). Department of Justice components must submit Form DOJ-2 to
DOJ's Printing Office.

To do so, each agency should determine how many copies it will want at the
"rider" price (expected to be approximately $3.00 per copy) and make
arrangements with its printing officer to place each agency's order by no
later than June 15. Offices outside the Washington, D.C. area should contact
their printing or publication officer in Washington, D.C. for their proper
billing codes.

The GPO requisition number for the Department of Justice Guide to the
Freedom of Information Act is 9-05246.

The Office of Information Policy will send one courtesy copy of the Guide to
the Chief FOIA Officer and principal FOIA contact at each agency.

If an agency does not ride the Department of Justice's requisition order it
can purchase the book at the full price through GPO's bookstore. The Guide
will also be posted electronically on the Department of Justice website.

OIP's publications editor, Bertina Adams Cleveland, is available to answer
any question regarding this at (202) 616-5456. (posted 5/18/2009)

----
Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info

https://keyserver.pgp.com/

USA: Obama Dares Judge to Order Release Of NSA Spy Document

Obama Dares Judge to Order Release Of NSA Spy Document
<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/nsa/>
By David Kravets, May 15, 2009

Setting the stage for a constitutional showdown, the Obama administration
dared a federal judge here late Friday to do what no judge has yet done:
disclose classified data the government has declared a national security
state secret.

The administration urged
<http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2009/05/walkercrisis.pdf>
(.pdf) U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to order such a disclosure in a
3-year-old lawsuit weighing whether a sitting U.S. president may bypass
Congress and adopt a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.
Such an order, the administration said, could halt three years of convoluted
litigation and force the appellate courts to weigh in on the hotly contested
issue.

The classified data in question shows that telephone calls by two American
lawyers for a now-defunct Saudi charity were intercepted by the government
without warrants in 2004. Without the classified documents admitted as
evidence in the case, the aggrieved lawyers for the al-Haramain charity,
which the Bush administration designated as a terror group, cannot establish
a legal basis to earn them a day in court.

--snip--

In this case, Walker reviewed the classified material and said the evidence
pointed toward illegal spying
<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/01/judge-sufficien/> .

A George H. W. Bush appointee, Walker has defied the government on state
secrets before, but has never ordered the disclosure of evidence the
government has declared classified.

He rejected the Bush administration's state secrets claim in lawsuits
challenging the nation's telecommunication companies' complicity with Bush's
once-secret electronic eavesdropping program. But Congress stepped in and
immunized the telcos from the lawsuits.

With then-Sen. Barack Obama's vote in July, Congress also sanctioned Bush's
spy program that authorized warrantless wiretapping on Americans if they are
communicating overseas with suspected terrorists.

Walker is also weighing a challenge to that immunity legislation.

--snip--

But if Walker obliges Eisenberg, another constitutional crisis may surface
<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/03/thoughts-of-sto/> . The Justice
Department, in an earlier filing, suggested it may "withdraw" the documents
at issue regardless of Walker's orders.

--snip--

----
Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info

https://keyserver.pgp.com/

USA: White House Wins Court Fight on Email Disclosure

White House Wins Court Fight on Email Disclosure
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124274567167334975.html>
MAY 19, 2009

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the office that has records about
millions of possibly missing emails from the Bush White House doesn't have
to make them public.

The appeals court in Washington ruled that the White House Office of
Administration isn't an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act,
allowing the White House to keep secret documents about an email system that
has been plagued with problems.

--snip--

"We conclude that the Office of Administration is not [subject to FOIA
requests] because it performs only operational and administrative tasks in
support of the president and his staff and therefore, under our precedent,
lacks substantial independent authority," the three-judge panel said in its
opinion.

--snip--

The groups expressed disappointment that Mr. Obama's Justice Department
asked the suit be dismissed after Mr. Obama promised greater transparency in
government.

Anne Weismann, CREW's chief counsel, said the group is disappointed in the
ruling but it is negotiating with Obama's White House to get access to the
Office of Administration's documents anyway.

"Every president except for George W. Bush has treated OA as an agency
subject to the FOIA and we are counting on President Obama to do the same,"
she said in a statement.
----
Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info

https://keyserver.pgp.com/

Iran: Tehran blocks access to Facebook

Tehran blocks access to Facebook
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8065578.stm>

Iran has blocked access to social networking site Facebook ahead of June's
presidential elections, Iran's Ilna news agency and web users say.

Ilna says the move is aimed at stopping supporters of reformist candidate
Mir Hossein Mousavi from using the site for his campaign.

--snip--

It said that "according to certain Internet surfers, the site was banned
because supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi were using Facebook to better
disseminate the candidate's positions".

--snip--

His page on Facebook has more than 5,000 supporters.

----
Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info

https://keyserver.pgp.com/

Chile: Landmark Day in Chile as New Transparency Law Comes into Effect

A Landmark Day in Chile as New Transparency Law Comes into Effect
<http://freedominfo.org/news/20090421.htm>
21 APRIL 2009

Yesterday Chile's Transparency and Access to Public Information Law (Law
20.2285) came into force, marking a significant step toward making the
Chilean government more transparent and responsive to the Chilean people.
The law applies to all levels of government, from the federal ministries to
the municipal governments, including the armed forces, the police, and the
public security forces. The inclusion of the military and police under the
law's mandates is especially significant, given Chile's recent history of
military dictatorship.

The law, passed in August 2008, mandates the active dissemination of
information by the state and also requires the Chilean government to respond
to information requests by Chilean citizens. According to the law,
government websites should actively publish certain kinds of information,
broad categories defined in the law itself. For information requests, the
government must respond within 20 working days and must justify why the
requested information must be withheld.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the new law is the establishment of a
Consejo para la Transparencia <http://www.consejotransparencia.cl/> —
a four-member watchdog council that will oversee implementation of the law
and also rule on appeals. The Consejo has unique powers and an independent
budget of $3 million for the first year. In addition to overseeing the
implementation of the law
<http://www.consejotransparencia.cl/prontus_consejo/site/artic/20090408/pags
/20090408115623.html>,
the Consejo will also serve as a court of appeals for citizens who believe
that information has been unfairly or illegally withheld or are dissatisfied
with the processing of an information request.

President Michelle Bachelet has appointed Juan Pablo Olmedo as President of
the Consejo para la Transparencia. Olmedo is a prominent Santiago lawyer and
founder of Pro Acceso Chile's leading right-to-know advocacy group.
Freedominfo.org interviewed Juan Pablo Olmedo in anticipation of the
transparency law coming into effect. The other members of the Consejo span
the political spectrum and include Roberto Guerrero, Vice-Dean of the Law
School at Catholic University; Alejandro Ferreiro, Christian Democrat and
former Minister of Economy; and Raul Urrutia, a constitutional law professor
at Catholic University, Valparaiso, and a member of the conservative
National Renewal Party.

In a press release, Pro Acceso's Executive Director Moisés Sánchez notes,
"This law represents a very significant step as far as the recognition of
the citizen's rights, as well as the process of the Modernization of the
State, to where not only does it contribute to the improvement of the
mechanisms of social control, but also demands second generation reforms in
materials regarding public management. The truth is, this law represents a
true administrative revolution, and for that this 20th of April should be
considered not the end, but the beginning of a process of continuous
improvement that in the short term achieves the construction of a State that
is truly at the service of its citizens."

LINKS

Transparency and Access to Public Information Law
<http://freedominfo.org/documents/Chile--Ley%2020285.pdf>
(in Spanish)

Consejo para la Transparencia
<http://www.consejotransparencia.cl/>

Freedominfo.org's interview with Juan Pablo Olmedo
<http://freedominfo.org/features/20090327.htm>

Pro Acceso <http://www.proacceso.cl/>

----
Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info

https://keyserver.pgp.com/

Fiji: Amnesty International - human rights worsening under new military regime

Fiji human rights worsening under new military regime
<http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/fiji-human-rights-worsening-under-new-military-regime-20090420>
20 April 2009

The human rights situation in Fiji is getting worse by the day under the newly
reappointed military regime, according to an Amnesty International
fact-finding mission.

The population is living in fear as a result of draconian measures implemented
by the regime. These followed the abrogation of the constitution and the
subsequent sacking of all judicial officers and all constitutionally appointed
office-holders.

Elections have been deferred for five years and martial law has been declared
for a period of 30 days, during which time journalists have been forbidden
from writing anything negative about Fiji or about the military regime.

Judges, lawyers and judicial officers have been blocked from entering court
buildings since 14 April and a number of judges and judicial officers,
including the Director of Public Prosecutions and the head of the Fiji Law
Society, have been placed under house-arrest.

Amnesty International has condemned the censorship of media and detention of
journalists, severe limitations on freedom of association, and threats to
human rights defenders and critics of the regime.

The organization has also condemned the new "public emergency" regulations
which protect police and military personnel from being held responsible for
their actions even when their conduct results in death or injury of a person.

"What is developing is a culture of extreme fear and intimidation," said
Amnesty International's Pacific researcher Apolosi Bose, who has just
completed the mission in Fiji.

"The rule of law must be restored in Fiji immediately and the independence of
the judiciary respected to ensure people's rights to freedom of expression and
association."

"There is a very strong military and police presence on the streets,
particularly around strategic locations such as government offices, and in the
nation's newsrooms. That is a constant and intimidating reminder that the new
military regime will not tolerate dissent and will follow through on the
warnings it has issued to critics."

Further to the crackdown on journalists and any critics of the military or the
interim government, it is now believed that the regime is monitoring email
traffic and blogs as an additional means of suppressing any criticism.

"As a result, people are being forced to self-censor and important human
rights groups in Fiji are unable to go about their work properly," said
Apolosi Bose. "There has been a major chilling effect on a once-robust NGO and
human rights defender community.

"In the absence of a free press to hold the military to account for their
actions and a judiciary to provide a balance of power, the work of these human
rights organisations is crucial. But they are being crippled by repression.

"With no-one to stand up on behalf of the abused and the vulnerable, there is
a real risk of further grave human rights abuses occurring against civilians."

According to media reports, military chief Frank Bainimarama was reinstated as
Fiji's Prime Minister in spite of a court ruling that his regime was illegal.

The Court of Appeal - Fiji's second highest court – had ruled that the
military government was illegally appointed after a 2006 coup.

President Ratu Josefa Iloilo responded by abolishing the constitution and
sacking the judiciary before reinstating Mr Bainimarama a day later.

According to recent media reports, The Fiji Times, the country's main daily
newspaper, published its Sunday and Monday editions with several blank spaces
where stories about the crisis would have appeared. "The stories on this page
could not be published because of Government restrictions," read the only
words that appeared on Sunday's page two.

Reports also indicate that Fiji's main television station, Fiji One, refused
to broadcast its nightly news bulletin on Sunday. Instead it showed a simple
message written across a black screen: "Viewers please be advised that there
will be no 6pm news tonight."

"Except for what the military want them to hear, the people of Fiji have no
access to information about what is happening in their country," said Apolosi
Bose. "There is a real sense of confusion because people lack the information
they need to make decisions in their daily lives."

See Also
Amnesty International warns of deteriorating human rights situation in Fiji
<http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/amnesty-international-warns-deteriorating-human-rights-situation-fiji-20>

May 12th, 2009

Apple vs. Blasphemy (and Innovation)

Commentary by Hugh D'Andrade

Two more interesting applications have been blocked by Apple in its quixotic quest to police what users can think and do while using their iPhones.

First, we have Me So Holy, an iPhone app that takes a snapshot of the user and cleverly pastes it over the faces of holy religious figures such as Jesus Christ and the Dalai Lama. Well, it appears that Apple would prefer iPhone users to be a bit more pious — they've blocked the application from the iPhone app store as "objectionable."

Blasphemy, however, has been around for a few centuries, and even Steve Jobs is unlikely to have more success eradicating it than past inquisitors. P2P filesharing, on the other hand, is a relatively new idea, and from the perspective of Mr. Jobs and company, even more dangerous and heretical.

That's why Apple also blocked Drivetrain, a program that would allow users to remotely control their bittorrent downloads on their PCs. The heresy in this case is the idea that filesharing technologies can be used for all sorts of purposes, many of which are non-infringing and legitimately useful to the public. It doesn't matter whether your software actually uploads or downloads anything (Drivetrain doesn't) — if it's been seen in the company of other software that is capable of sending and receiving files, it will be put to the sword. Of course, by blocking software like Drivetrain Apple is putting innovation to the sword as well.

As we've said before, Apple is legally within its rights to sell or not sell whatever they choose in their store. But the monopoly they hold on applications for the iPhone means that unless users have the right to jailbreak their phones, they'll be blocked from enjoying the fruits of 21st century thinking — and 12th century thinking as well!

Peasants, peons, and iPhone users of the world, perhaps its time you were allowed to decide for yourselves what software will be running on the computer in your pocket.

Related Issues: DMCA, DMCA Rulemaking, File Sharing, Innovation, Intellectual Property

Related Cases: 2009 DMCA Rulemaking

Malaysia: ban on 'Allah' upheld

Malaysia ban on 'Allah' upheld
<http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/05/200952894123668106.html>

The Catholic church in Malaysia has failed in a bid to suspend a government
ban on the use of the word "Allah" in its weekly newsletter after the court
rejected its application.

--snip--

The government directive bars non-Muslims from translating God as "Allah" in
their literature, saying it would confuse Muslims in this plural,
Muslim-majority country.

--snip--

In 2007, the government issued a warning over The Herald's use of the word
"Allah", which officials had said could only be used to refer to the Muslim God.

Christian groups say the ban is unconstitutional, arguing that the word
"Allah" predates Islam.

--snip--

S Selvarajah, a lawyer for The Herald, told Al Jazeera the court said about 10
Malaysian states had similar prohibitions on non-Muslims' use of the word "Allah".

--snip--

"We'll wait for July when the court will hear the parties and decide on the
matter once and for all."

--snip--

The minorities have often said their constitutional right to practice their
religion freely has come under threat from the Malay Muslim-dominated government.

The government has repeatedly denied any discrimination against the country's
ethnic minorities.