Open government | Alasdair S. Roberts

Apr 28

Why it’s time to rethink the problem of secrecy

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

Mar 30

WikiLeaks article has most-read status for two years

WikiLeaks: The Illusion of Transparency, originally published in March 2012, has now completed two years on the “most-read articles” list for International Review of Administrative Sciences. Read the article.

Nov 5

An FOIA request, answered ten years later

Back around the turn of the millennium, I was doing a lot of writing on freedom of information laws and other topics relating to governmental openness. About 2001, I learned that NATO was overhauling its fifty-year-old policy on the handling of information shared among NATO member countries. The work was being handled by a body called the Ad Hoc Working Group for the Fundamental Review of NATO Security Policy (AHWG-FRNSP). Read more

Dec 5

Talks in Delhi, Medinipur December 11 and 14

I’ll be giving a talk on the right to information at the Centre for Policy Research’s Accountability Initiative in Delhi on Tuesday December 11. Details here. I’ll also be giving a lecture in the Department of Anthropology at Vidyasagar University in Medinpur on December 14. Details here.

Read a December 16 story in Kolkata’s Statesman about my lecture at Vidyasagar University.

Nov 20

New Zealand’s Dominion Post publishes oped on transparency

New Zealand’s Dominion Post has just published my oped, “Transparency is vital in these times.” The oped is based on my address to the Tenth World Conference of the International Ombudsman Institute in Wellington NZ last week. Read the article.

Nov 16

Talk at Conference of International Ombudsman Institute

I spoke on the opening panel of the Tenth World Conference of the International Ombudsman Institute in Wellington, New Zealand on November 14, 2012. The topic was Transparency in Troubled Times. Read a media release about the talk. Photo: fellow panelist Helen Clark, UNDP administrator, and Dame Beverley Wakem, Chief Ombudsman of New Zealand and IOI President.

Nov 13

Paper on reform of Canada’s Access to Information Act

The Office of Canada’s Information Commissioner has just posted a paper I wrote for them about reform of Canada’s Access to Information Act. Read the paper.

Sep 13

New book includes chapter on government secrecy

The Secrets of Law, a volume produced by the Department of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Dartmouth College, is now available on Amazon. It includes my chapter on secrecy during the War on Terror, “Open Secrets and Dirty Hands.” The manuscript version of the chapter can be downloaded from SSRN.

Aug 24

Radio Free Europe column discusses WikiLeaks article

Luke Allnut discusses my recent article on WikiLeaks in today’s column on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Also related pieces from Brazil’s Exame, South Africa’s Legal Brief Today, and DemocraticUnderground.com.

Apr 11

Talk at Central Translation Bureau, Beijing

I gave a talk on April 10 at the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau in Beijing, along with John McMillan, Information Commissioner of Australia. The talk was organized by the Bureau in partnership with the Carter Center in Atlanta.

Professor of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

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