The debate about access to information has become even more important this week as leaks revealed the extent to which the NSA and other intelligence agencies have been eavesdropping on citizens and non-citizens alike .
*Why does PRISM matter for FOI ?* 1. Because the leaked documentation highlights just how far even democratic governments are willing and able to violate basic constitutional norms and rights on such a massive scale when they are not exposed to public scrutiny and oversight. It is estimated that up to three billion telephone calls have been intercepted per day by the NSA. 2. Because the basic foundation of the liberal democratic state-society relationship is (a) we are supposed to know almost everything about them; this is why they are called public servants and (b) they are supposed to know very little about us; this is why we are called private citizens. It seems that more and more government activity is slipping behind the veil of national security and secrecy, while more and more of our most personal information has become the purview of agencies most of us has never heard of. New technologies are developed to simultaneously limit access to important information and deepen the access of unaccountable bodies into the private sphere. As FOI advocates, we should all be concerned that such a massive , wholesale perversion of constitutional rights could continue undetected for almost a decade. Surely there has not been a stronger argument in recent years for the adoption of the global principals on national security and freedom of information. -- *Satbir Singh* *Access to Information Programme (South Asia & Africa)* *Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative* B-117 Sarvodaya Enclave, New Delhi-27 Tel: +91 (0) 8527232802 Email: [email protected] www.humanrightsinitiative.org www.sartian.org twitter.com/satbirlsingh twitter.com/chri_int twitter.com/networksartian *The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative is an international NGO with a mandate from the Commonwealth of Nations and consultative status at the United Nations, working toward the practical realisation of human rights in the countries of the Commonwealth.* * * *"In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act**." **(George **Orwell)*
