Freedom of Information Laws By Country

Freedom of information laws by country detail legislation that gives access by the general public to data held by national governments. They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions. Also variously referred to as open records, or sunshine laws (in the United States), governments are also typically bound by a duty to publish and promote openness. In many countries there are constitutional guarantees for the right of access to information, but usually these are unused if specific support legislation does not exist.

Read more about Freedom Of Information Laws By Country:  Introduction, Pending Legislation By Country

Famous quotes containing the words freedom of, freedom, information, laws and/or country:

    “We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want ... everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear ... anywhere in the world.”
    —Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

    “Men who want to support women in our struggle for freedom and justice should understand that it is not terrifically important to us that they learn to cry; it is important to us that they stop the crimes of violence against us.”
    —Andrea Dworkin (b. 1946)

    “English literature is a kind of training in social ethics.... English trains you to handle a body of information in a way that is conducive to action.”
    —Marilyn Butler (b. 1937)

    “I was not at all worried about finding my doctor boring; I expected from him, thanks to an art of which the laws escaped me, that he pronounce concerning my health an indisputable oracle by consulting my entrails.”
    —Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

    “There are whole precincts of voters in this country whose united intelligence does not equal that of one representative American woman.”
    —Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947)