FOI in Practice: Measuring the Complexity of Information Requests and Quality of Government Responses in Mexico The National Security Archive - Mexico Project (original) (raw)

Open Government Data in Mexico

Open Government Data in Mexico, 2015

This document describe the mexican experience of the Open Government Data Implementation, like a key topic of Open Government. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1250.3529

Digital access to government information: To what extent are agencies in compliance with EFOIA?

Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2006

Citizen access to government information is thought by many to be a cornerstone of democracy. The Electronic Freedom of Information Act (EFOIA), passed in 1996, established a legal right for people to request and receive government information in digital format and required agencies to provide specific information on their websites. Many commentators agreed that this law was a positive step and would improve citizen access to government information. This paper adopts a social informatics perspective to assess this prevailing view by examining the underlying assumptions about technology on which discourse is based. It then supports this critical assessment with an empirical investigation. First, compliance with Department of Justice guidelines was examined (following Gordon-Murnane, 1999). Then we analyzed the content of agencies' electronic reading rooms to determine if they were in compliance with the law. Our analysis determined that agencies are in better compliance with the Department of Justice guidelines, but many do not comply with the legal requirements. Agencies could improve their compliance with the letter and the spirit of EFOIA. In this way, our study contributes to bodies of research concerned with information access, social informatics, and digital government.

Transparency in Mexico: An Overview of Access to Information Regulations and their Effectiveness at the Federal and State Level

In 2015, the Mexican Congress enacted the General Transparency Law responding to organized advocacy efforts and active participation by scholars and local NGOs (including a coalition of Mexican NGOs) demanding for an enhanced and uniform access to information legislation across the country. Prior to the 2015 passage of the General Transparency Law, Mexico’s 33 separate jurisdictions —31 states plus Mexico City and the federation—imposed different legal frameworks and institutional capacities on citizens and businesses, imperiling transparency. Given the role of transparent government in improving the rule of law, fighting corruption, and achieving economic growth, these differences were an area of significant concern. While every jurisdiction has complied with the new requirements, effective differences remain due to variation in states’ institutional capabilities and political will for implementing the laws. According to the most recent ranking of transparency in Mexico performed by Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas, the quality of freedom of information law increased but effective access decreased. The current study analyzes these differences as well as the effects of the 2015 General Transparency Law across Mexico. The results urge the necessity of monitoring the effective implementation of the recently improved laws. Otherwise, the improvement of laws will represent mere window-dressing rather than actual transparency and the benefits it brings.

The Federal Institute for Access to Information in Mexico and a Culture of Transparency

2006

In the summer of 2007, the Center for Global Communications Studies’s team of researchers – consisting of Benjamin Fernandez Bogado, Emilene Martinez-Morales, Bethany Davis Noll, and Kyle Bell – began a follow-up study to assess the effectiveness and usefulness of the recommendations generated by the Center’s 2006 study1 as well as to report on any institutional changes at the Federal Institute for Access to Public Information in Mexico (“IFAI”) and changes in the political and legal landscape. In June 2007, the team visited IFAI, met with IFAI’s commissioners, and conducted a set of working group discussions with (1) representatives of the obligated agencies and IFAI, (2) representatives from NGOs, and (3) representatives from the media. This summary report was prepared with information gleaned during those sessions as well as from background research conducted by the team. Click here to view the original report. Disciplines Communication | International and Area Studies Creative C...