{"id":10822,"date":"2011-10-03T13:47:11","date_gmt":"2011-10-03T13:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/freedom-of-information\/"},"modified":"2012-11-26T14:20:48","modified_gmt":"2012-11-26T14:20:48","slug":"freedom-of-information","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/24976\/freedom-of-information","title":{"rendered":"Freedom of Information"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_freedom_of_information_mean\">What Does Freedom of Information Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Freedom of information refers to a citizen&#8217;s right to access information that is held by the state. In many countries, this freedom is supported as a constitutional right.<\/p>\n<p>In the United States, the Freedom of Information Act allows for the disclosure of government documents and previously unreleased information that falls under the U.S. government&#8217;s control. This act was amended in 1996 to include the Electronic Freedom of Information Act, which states that government agencies must make certain types of records electronically available to the public. This is designed to broaden access to government information.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_freedom_of_information\">Techopedia Explains Freedom of Information<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Freedom of information was established for transparency, government accountability, education and general public protection against mismanagement and corruption. More than 70 countries with government representation approved the original freedom of information legislation. <\/p>\n<p>Related human rights include freedom of expression, data protection (privacy), freedom of association and right to development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Freedom of Information Mean? Freedom of information refers to a citizen&#8217;s right to access information that is held by the state. In many countries, this freedom is supported as a constitutional right. In the United States, the Freedom of Information Act allows for the disclosure of government documents and previously unreleased information that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[218,227,245],"class_list":["post-10822","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-cybersecurity","definitioncat-data-management","definitioncat-internet"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Freedom of Information? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Freedom of Information and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freedom of Information\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Freedom of Information and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/24976\/freedom-of-information\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-11-26T14:20:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/24976\/freedom-of-information#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/24976\/freedom-of-information\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Freedom of Information\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-03T13:47:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-26T14:20:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/24976\/freedom-of-information\"},\"wordCount\":158,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/24976\/freedom-of-information#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/24976\/freedom-of-information\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/24976\/freedom-of-information\",\"name\":\"What is Freedom of Information? 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