جزییات کتاب
Alastair Roberts went deep into the meanderings of government transparency provided in the Information Age, from country to country explaining the importance of FOIA--adopted, molded, modified, and abused--laws regarding government secrecy. The balancing act of each country, each culture to release information, sensitive to the security of each is discussed in esoteric detail. The stories told will at first mystify the logical mind, and confuse the already mystified looking for something that makes sense--the author will give you evidence that makes sense. Governments typically do not find it natural to release information that can cause disturbance within policies that protect both the governmental entity and the people at the same time. And since the author is well informed in his knowledge of the intricacies of law and information age, he covers all territories of the subject to professorial status. The newness of FOIA in its different experimental stages worldwide creates problems for all governments, typically overwhelmed by requests, not being able to provide answers in a timely manner, thus frustrating those people who request until ultimately the government becomes lax in its ability to follow the law, reforms it, reducing its effectiveness, until it is excused for its failures. The push and pull of information regarding secrecy in and out of governments, seems too much of a burden.
Ultimately, anyone who is interested in the full framework of the disclosure of government information, needs to read this book. Questions that come up as a result of frustration from the average citizen, will be answered fully, as the author gives us examples of how difficult FOIA in its different forms poses.