by John McDevitt

Created on: September 27, 2008

Knowledge empowers. Secrecy strangles. Our power of informed choice, our right to dignity and respect, our right to equal justice, and our freedom to live peacefully as equals in sovereign communities all depend on the free flow of information.

Access to information is the fundamental human right. Access to information and the knowledge needed to act in our best interest anchor all other human rights. Knowledge delivers the power to hold public institutions accountable into our hands, helps secure essential human rights, and gives us control over our own destiny as free citizens in an open society.

Transparency is the antidote to secrecy. Freedom of information (FOI) laws validate and enforce the right of all citizens to access information about the activities of the public institutions that affect their daily lives. FOI laws are effective. The Open Society Justice Initiative surveyed FOI laws in 14 different states and discovered that the response rate for information requests nearly tripled in those states that have FOI laws.

The Transparency and Access to Information Law adopted by Ecuador in the spring of 2004 is a prime example. The law proclaims that ``access to information is a right of the person guaranteed by the state.'' Ecuadorian citizens enjoy the right of judicial appeal and a public ombudsman appointed to ``monitor, safeguard and promote implementation'' of the law.

All public institutions and other organizations that receive public funds must respond to FOI requests within 10 days. The law requires these institutions to ``publish information by means accessible to the public'' and are given one year to set up web sites. (Privacy International)

Access to information via the Internet is a ``traditional'' horizontal or supply side delivery method that focuses on the internal accountability mechanisms of public institutions. New forms of accountability that rely on civic engagement, where citizens and their representatives participate directly on the ``demand side'' to exact accountability from public officials are more effective in the developing countries of the world. (pria.org)

The World Bank Institute (WBI) believes that too much emphasis has been put on supply side accountability. Supply side does little to empower the poor and the illiterate who are especially vulnerable and too often excluded from the decision making process.

The poor in developing countries have limited or no access to the communication channels available to citizens in the developed

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