Week 2 Discussion Question 3:
From the internet, find an example of a conflict
between a governmental agency and a member of the general public. Send a summary of
the conflict and your analysis of the conflict, along with a link to your source, for discussion
The article I found dealt with the open government and conflicts with public trust and
privacy.
Most open-records laws, including the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
provide exceptions that allow public institutions to guard information that could interfere
with pending legal proceedings or jeopardize national security.
Also, internal decision-
making and deliberation processes of government agencies and documents related to
personnel matters many times are off limits.
These exceptions remain untouched in the
digital age (notwithstanding extralegal actions by WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, or
confidential source who disclose things to the press).
At a practical level, some experts
believe the FOIA laws are unbalanced, and some states continue to threaten rollbacks.
Wihbey, John. (2013). Open government and conflicts with public trust and privacy: Recent
research ideas.
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/digital-democracy/government-transparency-conflicts-
public-trust-privacy-recent-research-ideas
