Feb 12
I participated as a panelist during the February 15 conference on digital technology and access to information organized by the Karnataka Center for e-Governance and the Social Accountability Forum for Action and Research.
I spoke with Radio New Zealand’s Wallace Chapman on May 25 about government secrecy. The interview was broadcast on RNZ’s Sunday Morning program. Listen to the interview on the web. Australia’s ABC Radio National also broadcast my interview with Jonathan Green on May 25. The interview, about The End of Protest, was part of Radio National’s Sunday Extra program. Listen to the interview on the web.
These notes were prepared for forthcoming talks at the Australia-New Zealand School of Government in Wellington on May 16 and Melbourne on May 21; at the University of Tasmania Law School on May 23; and at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore on May 27.
We all recognize that excessive secrecy is a threat to democracy. But technological changes of recent years have fundamentally changed the nature of the “secrecy problem.” Today, we need a new way of thinking about secrecy that recognizes the advent of systems of public surveillance and control that span the public and private sector; that are supported by durable alliances of politicians, bureaucrats and politicians; and whose design and operation are practically unintelligible to most citizens. Read more
Alasdair S. Roberts 
