Wikileaks

Although wikileaks.org is no longer available, there are a whole host of cover names or the ip address is still working. More at Media Law Profs and the New York Times.

I'd have called it samizdat.org, but whatever, I've got a nose bleed to attend to.

A "squalid little bill"

So said Lord McNally as progress of the dreaded FOI amendment appeared to grind to a halt yesterday. Publawyer has been very busy for the last few weeks and neglected his sorry little blog, but he appears to have timed his return to coincide expertly with the latest development in what appears to have become his hobby horse. He also remembers, too late, that he was going to dispense with this whole third person malarkey. Oops. The usual sources are here and here, although The Times can't appear to get David Maclean's name right.

Elsewhere, as everyone probably knows by now, the House of Lords has ruled that the Human Rights Act applies to certain military acts carried out abroad. A "seminal decision" indeed.

I have been updating my links and added several EU law sites. It appears that the EU Constitutional Treaty might be reborn, but the same problems about agreeing a direction will still need to be dealt with.

"A bad day for Parliament"

As mentioned previously David Maclean's attempts to stifle the flow of information out of Parliament have come before the Commons. Rather sadly, but perhaps not unsurprisingly, his Bill has passed and will now go on to the Lords (the one where they vote for things, not the one where it rains).

However, all may not yet be lost as the House of Lords could still come to the rescue, at least in part. Hopefully they might still succeed in shaming some of the MPs who voted for this on Friday. The Times has provided a list of who voted which way, which is easier than scrolling through pages of Hansard (although that method did lead to the headline quote from Mark Fisher). There are a couple of other Times articles here and here.

Just as I was about to click on 'Publish Post' Geeklawyer weighs in. The lesser known Publawyer wishes to respectfully adopt Geeklawyer's submissions and also those on IMPACT, who say exactly what I was trying to say, but better.

Information to become less free?

Publawyer notes from the Guardian that a debate on David Maclean's Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill is to be delayed to 18th May. It has been suggested that this a strategic move in order to help pass the Bill. Publawyer will be watching this one with interest - he thinks freedom of information is generally a Good Thing and has yet to be convinced of the merits of this Bill. It remains to be seen whether this delaying tactic will be succesful. Apparently this is an altogether better way of achieving a goal through Machiavellian machinations.

Much more about the Bill (including an interesting briefing paper) here.