Freedom of Information Act Question 1 - Essay Example

Importance for accessing information and the recommendations for efficiency of the act. The benefits associated withfreedom of information include the following. First, the freedom enables the assessment of different records by the different countries that help in reducing corruption and wastage of government resources. It is because of questions that arises regarding accountability after the review of the information by the officers in charge the helps to curb the undesired vices (Mark, 2011).

The second benefit is the easy access of information by the public that save time and allows the public to make informed decisions. The act requires that the different institutions and firms provide all the relevant information for the use of the public at any required time. The third benefit is ensuring order in the firms that the information is to be accessed. The firms will ensure that the information is kept according to stipulated standards (Mark, 2011).The risks associated with the freedom do information are as the following.

First, there are cases of bureaucracy in the process of preparing the information in an effort to meet the requirements. The managers are forced to prepare the information so as to see the desires of the different users of the information that it causes time wastage. The second risk is the exposing of the institution’s information that may be used by the competitors against the government. The users may also be exposed to manipulated information by the managers so as to influence their decisions.

There is no platform that guarantees the quality of information provided by the firm. There might be cases where the firms provide the information that has not been scrutinized for relevance (Mark, 2011). Recommendations for improvement. For efficient functioning and administration of the act there is a need for few adjustments. The following are amongst the recommendations to make. First the one month limit of waiting for a response from the agency should be reduced to a maximum of twenty days so as to create efficiency within the system.

A situation where more time is given those in charge always to relax that it causes higher costs to the firm which would have been reduced if a strict deadline if fixed (Freedom of Information Act guide & Privacy Act overview,1999).Another avenue is for the act to encourage the administrators of the different firms to make use of the social media platforms to post any relevant information. The social media has become one of the cheapest means of communicating among the different people in different parts of the world (Freedom of Information Act guide & Privacy Act overview,1999).

If the method is adopted, the firms will be able to reduce on the cost that they spend drafting the different information to the clients who apply. The search cost should be raised to around 30 to 40 dollars, and the funds collected be used to create a website for easy access of information by the public (Freedom of Information Act guide & Privacy Act overview, 1999).The firms submitting the information should also be able to access the website so as to keep updating it on any issues that arise concerning the government like any change in the facts relating to its operation (Freedom of Information Act guide & Privacy Act overview, 1999).

References.United States. (1999). Freedom of Information Act guide & Privacy Act overview. Washington, D.C: Office of Information and Privacy, U.S. Dept. of Justice.Mark, N. (2010). The access to information act and recent proposals for reform". The government secrets.