Vital records document the birth, death, marriage and divorce of every individual. A more centralized system in the US could help public health researchers better study pandemics and disease.
There’s new evidence that, if confirmed, shows how former President Donald Trump flushed public documents down the toilet.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Shannon Bow O'Brien, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts
Photos showing what appear to be torn-up documents in two different toilets may provide more evidence of the former president’s habit of destroying his presidential documents.
Nixon resigned after tapes he had fought making public incriminated him in the Watergate coverup.
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Shannon Bow O'Brien, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts
Donald Trump’s lawsuit to stop the release to Congress of potentially embarrassing or incriminating documents puts the National Archives in the middle of an old legal conflict.
Police see some difficult scenes; body cameras can record those and make them public.
Tony Webster via Flickr
Police body cameras have the potential to make private details about people’s lives, including some of the most stressful experiences of their lives, public and easily accessible online
When should the public be able to see what this camera captures?
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Policymakers should mandate Canada’s national library to archive the entire Canadian web domain so future reserachers can make sense of 2020 and ongoing responses to the pandemic.
Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen testifies in February at a public hearing at the Washington legislature against limiting legislative branch disclosure.
AP/Ted S. Warren
Government produces millions of pages of records every day: studies, reports, memos, emails, budgets and more. These reports belong to the public, but increasingly, lawmakers are trying to hide them.
Easy access to government documents is essential to a healthy democracy. As a federal election approaches, Canada needs to do better.
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Barry Wellar, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
As a Canadian federal election year dawns, an alternative approach to freedom-of-information legislation is an urgent need.
Giving care leavers special access to their records might be one way to help them achieve justice, recognition and a firmer sense of belonging and community.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
“You have the records of our abuse.” So read the placards held by protesters outside hearings of the Royal Commission and the recent Victorian parliamentary inquiry into child sex abuse. These protesters…