To facilitate this tendency, government information should be exempted from the copyright protection. For instance, the United States Copyright Act of 1976 explicitly provides that copyright protection is not available for any work of the United States Government. Article 4 of the Polish Copyright Act of 1994 excludes legislative acts, their official drafts, and other official documents and materials from the copyright protection. A number of other countries have adopted similar regulations'. The significance of the limitation on copyright for government information policy was not always appreciated, but its importance became clearer in recent years as digital data became commonplace. It simply implies that government information is public domain. Anyone may reprint a government document in any way d at any price. Any government data made public also may be used in any on-line information service without restriction 3.3 Openness vS Secrecy Public access to official information does not prevent the Government from protecting information from disclosure for their legitimate aims as stipulated by legal provisions In the United States, nine exemptions permit the withholding of records to protect legitimate government or private interests. Thus, national security information, trade secrets, law enforcement investigative files, personal data, pre-decisional documents, and other categories of government records can lawfully be denied to a FOIA requester. The early experience under the Act on Freedom of Information shows some negative consequences of this legislation for effective law enforcement. It was estimated that only 7 percent of the 30,000 FOIA requests received annually by the Department of Justice came from media and other researchers. Many requests came from persons who were obviously seeking improper personal advantage, including convicted offenders, organised crime people, drug traffickers, and persons in litigation with the United States who are attempting to use the FOla to circumvent the rules of discovery governments to combat crime was thought to be affected, mainly by a decline in the number of informant nd local contained in the rules of criminal or civil procedure. Consequently, the ability of the federal, state, an a highly detailed Swedish Secrecy Act contains 16 chapters and more than a hundred articles. They provide a specific requirements of damage to the interest concerned, as well as a maximum period of time during which secrecy applies. For example, where the protection of personal circumstances of individuals is concerned, usually a term of 50 or 70 years is applicable. With regard to secret information on matters of national defence or foreign relations a maximum period of 40 years has been established. In principle the restrictions laid down in the Secrecy Act mandatory in nature, ie if a restriction applies the authority involved must refuse access The legal nature of the restrictions based on secrecy interests differs among the various jurisdictions. In the United States of America, Denmark and France for example the limitations are not mandatory as is the case in Sweden and the Netherlands but are discretionary in nature. This means that if a restriction is applicable, the public authority concerned is under no obligation to give access to the information, but is nevertheless entitled to do so United States Copyright Act, 5105(1994). The prohibition on copyright protection for United States Government works is not intended to limit protection abroad. Thus, under the Copyright Act, the Federal Government can seek copyright for its information of other countries. or a not copyrighted as far as they are published officially( Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works, No 5846, art. 31). Speeches are not copyrighted in the scope of mass communications, otherwise they are copyrighted(art. 32). All other governmental works, such as reports, plans, maps, drawings Report of Attomey General's Task Force on Violent Crime of 17 August 1981. United States Department of JusticeTo facilitate this tendency, government information should be exempted from the copyright protection. For instance, the United States Copyright Act of 1976 explicitly provides that copyright protection is not available for any work of the United States Government6 . Article 4 of the Polish Copyright Act of 1994 excludes legislative acts, their official drafts, and other official documents and materials from the copyright protection. A number of other countries have adopted similar regulations7 . The significance of the limitation on copyright for government information policy was not always appreciated, but its importance became clearer in recent years as digital data became commonplace. It simply implies that government information is public domain. Anyone may reprint a government document in any way and at any price. Any government data made public also may be used in any on-line information service without restriction. 3.3 Openness vs. Secrecy Public access to official information does not prevent the Government from protecting information from disclosure for their legitimate aims as stipulated by legal provisions. In the United States, nine exemptions permit the withholding of records to protect legitimate government or private interests. Thus, national security information, trade secrets, law enforcement investigative files, personal data, pre-decisional documents, and other categories of government records can lawfully be denied to a FOIA requester. The early experience under the Act on Freedom of Information shows some negative consequences of this legislation for effective law enforcement. It was estimated that only 7 percent of the 30,000 FOIA requests received annually by the Department of Justice came from media and other researchers. Many requests came from persons who were obviously seeking improper personal advantage, including convicted offenders, organised crime people, drug traffickers, and persons in litigation with the United States who are attempting to use the FOIA to circumvent the rules of discovery contained in the rules of criminal or civil procedure. Consequently, the ability of the federal, state, and local governments to combat crime was thought to be affected, mainly by a decline in the number of informants8 . A highly detailed Swedish Secrecy Act contains 16 chapters and more than a hundred articles. They provide a specific requirements of damage to the interest concerned, as well as a maximum period of time during which secrecy applies. For example, where the protection of personal circumstances of individuals is concerned, usually a term of 50 or 70 years is applicable. With regard to secret information on matters of national defence or foreign relations a maximum period of 40 years has been established. In principle the restrictions laid down in the Secrecy Act are mandatory in nature, i.e. if a restriction applies the authority involved must refuse access. 6 United States Copyright Act, '105 (1994). The prohibition on copyright protection for United States Government works is not intended to limit protection abroad. Thus, under the Copyright Act, the Federal Government can seek copyright for its information of other countries. 7 In Germany and Switzerland, for instance, legislation and jurisprudence is not copyrighted. The Italian law explicitly bars statutes, regulations, rulings and the like from being copyrighted by Italian Government, local authorities or a foreign one. In Turkey, legislation and jurisprudence are not copyrighted as far as they are published officially (Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works, No. 5846, art. 31). Speeches are not copyrighted in the scope of mass communications, otherwise they are copyrighted (art. 32). All other governmental works, such as reports, plans, maps, drawings etc. are copyrighted. 8 _Report of Attorney General=s Task Force on Violent Crime of 17 August 1981. United States Department of Justice. The legal nature of the restrictions based on secrecy interests differs among the various jurisdictions. In the United States of America, Denmark and France for example the limitations are not mandatory as is the case in Sweden and the Netherlands but are discretionary in nature. This means that if a restriction is applicable, the public authority concerned is under no obligation to give access to the information, but is nevertheless entitled to do so. Under