In a recent lecture/discussion that touched upon issues of citizen and media rights, one of my professors claimed that there are no closed government meetings in Sweden. I’ve found some things on the Internet that sort of back this up. Still, I find it very hard to believe that Sweden has no secret meetings. How do they conduct police or intelligence operations? When do leaders discuss strategy regarding things like trade negotiations, treaties, and the like? The Swedes seem to be more open than most nations, but I don’t see how they can function if everybody has total access to government meetings and documents. Not unless they have a whole lot of unofficial get-togethers in back rooms and private country vacation homes, that is. Was my professor wrong? What did I miss? Does anybody have the straight dope on this subject?
Thanks in advance.
Oh yeah, it’s occurred to me to ask my prof to elaborate . . . however, I get the impression he prefers us to regard the words that come out of his mouth with awe rather than skepticism . . . that, and I kind of blew this semester’s allotment of questions on other topics. Besides, it seems that people here often come up with better explanations for things than some of my teachers do.
Openness of official documents is a matter very close to the hearts of Swedes. You could compare it to a lot of people in the US with a love of certain ammendments to the US constitution.
My understanding is that in Sweden everything is open unless it is officially declared closed - and it is pretty damn hard to get things closed. An example of this is tax records. Believe it or not all tax records are public, meaning everyone can find out hom much you earn and how much you pay in tax.
Great! I knew there had to be some provision for Top Secret stuff and privacy. Thanks for the comments, all, and especially for the specific site, astro!
Caught this a little late but yeah, our “Freedom of information” act is very - very liberal. Freedom of the press doesn’t have anything to do with this - it’s open to anyone.
Basic rule: If it’s not marked “secret” you’re allowed to read it. As noted above, some areas get that mark automatically, but any paper in government or city you want to read, go ahead and ask for it.
Now things aren’t always as easy as they seem on the surface. Protocolls from meetings are public. The work leading up to them is not always so. You can’t just walk into a government office and take a peek at what’s on some flunkie’s desk.
However, things that are public and just a phone call away:
Social security number
Passport photo (you can demand and get a copy - this is how newspapers get photos of criminals at large and people killed in accidents)
Tax records (to some extent - you can find out how much someone had in taxable income, and total fortune, if taxable, but not where that person earned the money or what tax dedyctions that were made).
DMV. Who owns that car and does that person own a motor vehicle?
Same for boats.
Public and private debts.
Criminal record.
School grades (except for the Royal Family - Hah!).
Family members and how people are related.
Mariages and divorce.
Now, I know that this seems to be very Big Brother type, but let’s face it. Most governments keep track of these things. In Sweden, Joe Public has access too. Not a bad thing if you ask me.
There was some noise a couple of years ago. A guy who left the Church of Scientology mailed the manual for their “missionary” work to a government agency. So what? Well all mail that comes to the government/city is automatically public record. By doing this, he could make it public, without actually doing so himself. The press had a field day. And members of the church took turns sitting in the agency’s office and reading it, to stop others from doing so. They actually formed a line.
More of a reason for the press to start digging what it actually said.
