Cutting off access to government information: Loopholes in the access to information act generated by the information highway

As new and more sophisticated democracies around the world evolve, providing access to government information will play a larger and larger role in the legitimate functions of nation-states for both political and economic reasons. In the past, providing ready access to a significant portion of government information was an impassible prospect based on sheer volume and the limitations of communications tools. However, with the emergence of the ''information highway'' (Internet) this problem of access is rapidly disappearing. The challenge for governments now becomes redesigning the established rules and ideas about providing the public with access to what is a national resource: information developed, maintained, and paid for by their government. In Canada, the rules regarding public access to federal government information are established by the Access to Information Act, 1980-83. This paper explores certain elements of the Act considering the rise of information highway; namely, how loopholes in the Act could generate a paradox between intent and effect. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.