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Poland's Prime Minister Goes For Open Government

Posted by timothy on from the just-the-good-parts-is-bad-policy dept.

rysiek writes "In a surprise announcement, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared new policy toward a more open state: ''All information funded from public sources should be available as public property, free for everyone to use it as they wish,' said Tusk last week, during a meeting with NGO leaders in Poland. (English translation.) This is very unusual in Europe, and in fact puts Poland ahead of other EU states. A loose web of Polish NGOs for more than two years has advocated more open public information laws. A bill to that effect will now be presented in Sejm (the Polish parliament)."

11 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Bullshit by Mafoski · · Score: 4, Informative

    Relax, it's just talking, there is an election comming this fall, so he has to fill voters' brains with dull promises. So.. nothing to be excited about, it won't happen.

    1. Re:Bullshit by cappp · · Score: 4, Informative

      Moreover, the translation suggests his statement was made with significant caveats. TFA's third paragraph suggests that info funded by public sources is public...unless it's not in the best interests of the state, or is defined as classified – the example given is of treasury and economic research. The guy is talking about creating a category of free information, not making everything publically available as the summary claims. Seems it’s about moving Poland towards the position already occupied by the rest of the EU, not barrelling past it.

      If I’m reading the translation wrong, and to be fair it’s a little hard on the eyes as it stands, I’d appreciate Polish speakers pointing it out.

    2. Re:Bullshit by RedMagic · · Score: 5, Informative

      Don't rely on Google Translate for precision :) The Polish text says, that once the provisions are in place, everything will be public and free *by default*, aside from a limited amount of categories, like classified files or financial analysis, which the government relies on in negotiations with other parties.

    3. Re:Bullshit by rysiek · · Score: 4, Informative

      well, not quite. there will be some provisions about what is *not* open and up for grabs, but those will be few and will be clearly defined in the bill. everything else will be completely open.

      yes, thanks to election looming around the corner it was possible to actually pressure the government and the PM for this, but it looks like it will become the law before the elections. so win anyways.

      Disclaimer: I was participating in the meetings, representing the Polish FLOSS Foundation.

    4. Re:Bullshit by rysiek · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I do not think internet filtering will become law in Poland anytime soon. There is a meeting of NGOs and Ministry of Justice on that topic planned during the next week, and we believe we can convince lawmakers that internet filtering is a bad idea.

      I would like to remind you all that a year ago there was an idea for network filtering (in the context of anti-gambling crackdown), and the very same loosely-weaved group of NGOs and bloggers, on a similar meeting with the Prime Minister convinced the Government not to make it a law. So we have a good track record here. Hopes are up.

  2. Trojan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Open government data in exchange for blocking file sharing links. Sneaky. Last attempt at internet censorship failed, they are at it again.

  3. FOSS proves worthy? by IZN0GUD · · Score: 2

    Considering that Polish Government has been using FOSS in the majority of the governmental boxes, it is nice to see that their Government looks upon proven qualities of "openness", as well. Playing open minded, with cards shown. Nice.

    --
    .Play.Open.Minded.
  4. Re:Poland was Communist 20 years ago by CSMoran · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They can say whatever they like in panels, if there is no concerte decisions and laws to bring those promises to action.

    True.

    The fact that Poland is an ex-Soviet state

    False. A satelite at most.

    that ranks very low, even on European scale, in Economic and Political freedoms and corruption

    False.

    does not raise my optimism either.

    Mine either.

    --
    Every end has half a stick.
  5. Re:Poland was Communist 20 years ago by RedMagic · · Score: 2

    state that ranks very low, even on European scale, in Economic and Political freedoms and corruption does not raise my optimism either.

    You may have outdated information. We're pretty good over here and many people and businesses thrive. Come, visit, and stay for a while.

  6. Openness is not enough; also Accountability needed by master_p · · Score: 2

    Openness is not enough. What is required is accountability.

    For example, the Greek government decided to publish its records in opengov.gr.

    In that site, there is a lot of information published, including phone bills from public services. But there is no reference to what phone numbers public servants call, making the freedom essentially useless: we, the citizens, don't know if the public servants spent money phoning other public servants or sex hot lines, for example.

    Openness is not useful without Accountability.

  7. Re:Poland was Communist 20 years ago by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    that ranks very low, even on European scale, in Economic and Political freedoms and corruption

    False.

    Doing business? 70th place, just behind Namibia. Way ahead of Greece, though - what a surprise.

    A bit better on transparency, but still below most proper European countries.

    So pretty true, I'd say.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."