Heather Brooke has a good article in today's Guardian which makes the observation that the digital revolution has created a new culture of sousveillance where ordinary members of the public can now find out what their governments are up to rather than vice-versa.
She makes an interesting point about the advantages of information sharing.
"The 9/11 commission had made the remarkable discovery that it wasn't sharing information that had put the nation's security at risk; it was not sharing information that was the problem. The lack of co-operation between government agencies, and the hoarding of information by bureaucrats, led to numerous "lost opportunities" to stop the 9/11 attacks. As a result, the commission ordered a restructuring of government and intelligence services to better mimic the web itself. Collaboration and information-sharing was the new ethos. But while millions of government officials and contractors had access to Siprnet, the public did not."
Something similar could be said about the culture closer to home where the DPA has too often in the past been abused and wrongly used as an excuse to withhold information.
Link to full article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/29/the-revolution-will-be-digitised
Ciaran Ward - Information Officer
Direct: 01992 709819
Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
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