Letter: Free information
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Article 19 agrees with Stephen Dorril (letter, 17 December) that the wholesale exemption of government bodies is a key weakness in the Government's proposals for a Freedom of Information Act.
Mr Dorril asks what "national security" actually means. In the White Paper, it is a conveniently amorphous area.
The Government must clearly and narrowly define in the new law what they deem to be national security - for example, protecting territorial integrity against the use or threat of force - and therefore which specific categories of information will be outside the scope of the Act.
Malcolm Smart
Deputy Director
Article 19 International Centre Against Censorship
London N1
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