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follow, especially when the documents are non-public and only briefly summarised. This decision will allow for better scrutiny of the arguments and the evidence, which is especially crucial in extradition cases where a foreign government is demanding the handing over of persons based on crimes different than under UK law. The Court based its decision on the common law rather than the still evolving case law on the right to access from the European Court of Human Rights, which is still being resisted by the courts here. But after reviewing cases from Canada, the US, New Zealand and South Africa, the court found that the rest of the world had moved forward on this and considered it wise to follow suit4. A strange aspect of this case was that the US government was the only party opposing the release of the documents. The documents that the Guardian were trying to obtain were so basic you really do have to wonder why there was any opposition to their release, especially since no arguments were made that their release would cause any harm. Had the case been held in the US, they would have been routinely made available to anyone who wanted them. Perhaps it was US fear of having to release evidence in more controversial future cases, such as the potential extradition of Julian Assange to the US. In the US, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system allows anyone for a very small fee to be able to access most documents submitted electronically, including the briefs in any federal court case. It has over a million users. Taking this decision forward, the UK should now adopt a similar system of proactive disclosure. In the 21st century, open justice should be online justice. This article is reproduced with the permission of Guardian.co.uk, where the original version first appeared on 3 April 20125. David Banisar is senior legal counsel for Article 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression. He has worked in the field of information policy for nearly 20 years on the intersection of human rights and ICTs including privacy, freedom of expression, cyber-crime and the right to information.
Article 19s submission in the case is available here: < http://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/3011/12-04-03-UK.pdf>, accessed April 2012 5 At: < http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2012/apr/03/guardian-courtvictory-transparency>, accessed April 2012
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