Next week, MuckRock is joining public records campaigners at the third AlaveteliCon to discuss new tactics for opening up government algorithms, maintaining a healthy transparency community, and building stronger international collaborations.

Today, this 28th day of September 2016, marks International Right-To-Know Day, currently celebrating 250 years of Right-To-Know legislation on the Earth. In 1766, a full ten years before the United States birthed itself, Sweden adopted “His Majesty’s Gracious Ordinance Relating to Freedom of Writing and of the Press,” and so set an example for open access to governments around the world - at last count, 113 in total.

Last week, MuckRock’s Beryl Lipton had the good fortune of joining an international coalition of Freedom of Information warriors in Madrid, España for AlaveteliCon 2015. For two days, over two dozen representatives of various transparency websites from across the globe discussed the triumphs and tragedies, the successes and stresses of FOI.