The following is a story on how an official information request
response has been heavily censored by the Australian Government. It
was about the plan for the Australian Government to intercept the
domestic communication traffic of Australians, and the plan to enforce
such a requirement on ISP's.
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/no-minister-90-of-web-snoop-document-censored-to-stop--premature-unnecessary-debate-20100722-10mxo.html
What disturbs me - if the fact that they are pressing for these powers
at all isn't enough, and if hiding this from the public wasn't enough,
it is the justification of the censorship; that release of the
document "may lead to premature unnecessary debate and could
potentially prejudice and impede government decision making"
Premature in the sense that the Citizens of Australia might be able to
question it before it's introduction.
Unnecessary Debate in the sense that they know the Citizens of
Australia would never accept KGB like interception of all
communication.
Will the release prejudice the Governments decision making? This is
tacit acknowledgement that what they are doing is contrary to the
public interest; for if they were doing what the people wanted it
would not impede them.
The whole point of Open Government and the Official Information Act is
so that Government cannot hide what they are doing, cannot scheme
against the public in darkened rooms to subvert democracy and free
speech.
