Over here in the UK, we've not had a Freedom of Information Act for all that long. Although the act itself was passed in 2000, it didn't come into force until the beginning of this year, giving government departments plenty of time to destroy anything too incriminating. Blogger Steve Wood has followed the fortunes of the legislation.

Now the Open Society Justice Initiative have joined together with 16 civil society NGO's, including Statewatch, to call for the Council of Europe to adopt "a new binding instrument entrenching the right to access information throughout Europe".

In the States, where the Freedom of Information Act is coming up to its 40th anniversary, requesting documents using the legislation has emerged as a core practice of some grassroots journalists.  It's fascintating to see what filth gets turns up.