A quick note just to say that more and more lately I’m noticing that the government is charging for providing information that is in the public interest and therefore should be free. I don’t have any empirical evidence that this is the case, but it’s been my observation based on filing these requests for roughly 20 years. For instance, this past week I was told I need to dish out $300 to obtain hospitalization data from the IWK and Nova Scotia Health — they are separate entities and so IWK data cannot be obtained through NSH. I had to file two separate requests for essentially the same type of data, and both entities are charging me for it.
All just to say, if you were thinking of taking out a paid subscription, or giving one as a gift, now would be a great time.
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Freedom of Information Isn't Free
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Dear Readers,
A quick note just to say that more and more lately I’m noticing that the government is charging for providing information that is in the public interest and therefore should be free. I don’t have any empirical evidence that this is the case, but it’s been my observation based on filing these requests for roughly 20 years. For instance, this past week I was told I need to dish out $300 to obtain hospitalization data from the IWK and Nova Scotia Health — they are separate entities and so IWK data cannot be obtained through NSH. I had to file two separate requests for essentially the same type of data, and both entities are charging me for it.
All just to say, if you were thinking of taking out a paid subscription, or giving one as a gift, now would be a great time.
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