Council of Europe urges protection for whistleblowers
The resolution on “National security and access to information” adopted today underlines that “legitimate, well-defined national security interests” are valid grounds for withholding information held by public authorities, but invoking “national security” as a ground for secrecy should be subject to reasonable limits. Crimes such as murder, enforced disappearances, torture or abduction committed by state agents do not deserve to be protected as “state secrets”.
Access to information should be granted where public interest in the information in question outweighs the authorities’ interest in keeping it secret, including when such information “would make an important contribution to an on-going public debate”.
The report’s author Arcadio Díaz Tejera (Spain, SOC) said the Wikileaks revelations did not seem to have caused any serious diplomatic repercussions or lasting damage: “One lesson learnt from this massive leak is in fact that the publication even of relatively sensitive information is nowhere near as damaging as had previously been assumed. I therefore consider the extreme severity with which the US authorities are treating Mr Manning, the young soldier who seems to be the ‘source’ of these leaks, as most inappropriate.”
In the resolution, the Assembly urges governments in the Council of Europe’s 47 member states to align their laws with a set of global principles on this topic agreed by experts, civil society, academia and national security practitioners, and to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents.
http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/News/News-View-EN.asp?newsid=4669&lang=2&cat=8
bring the ruckus to Facebook: http://facebook.com/IndyRadio
The future of radio comes not from the Tower of Corporate Media but through WiFi and cellphone it now belongs to us. Circa 2013 we have a window of opportunity since web radio is received on desktops, mobiles and phones without added charges, and there are more than 50,000 free independent stations you can access with simple software. You don't need to download files, or worry about how much storage your device has available.
The newest playlists from Indyradio appear at http://indyradio.nu
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.