More than 50 countries now have guaranteed their citizens the right to know what their government is up to, and more than half of these freedom of information laws passed in the last decade, according to an updated global survey posted today on the Web by the virtual network of openness advocates, freedominfo.org.

Four countries have adopted new freedom of information laws just since the last edition of the survey was posted in September 2003. The global survey released today was compiled and edited for freedominfo.org by David Banisar of the University of Leeds and Privacy International as the third in his series on the site, and includes links to the texts of laws and concise commentary on their effectiveness or lack thereof.

The freedominfo.org site is edited by a multinational volunteer Editorial Board, and is hosted and staffed by George Washington University's National Security Archive, the leading non-profit user and advocate of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Grants from the Open Society Institute, the Ford Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation underwrite the site.