United States

WHEREAS during the past six months the government of Barack Obama has assumed a position of information secrecy and has restricted access to official sources of information, as recorded in studies conducted by press organizations; WHEREAS the Department of Justice ordered Twitter to submit personal data on accounts and profiles of its users that could be tied to Wikileaks, in reference to the dissemination of diplomatic documents from the Department of State; WHEREAS a court in the District of Alexandra, Virginia sent Twitter a subpoena, signed by federal judge Teresa Buchanan on December 14, demanding “relevant” information on users suspected of having ties to Wikileaks for an “on-going criminal investigation”; WHEREAS those judicial measures may affect the right of citizens to exercise their freedom of expression through social networks and could have an impact on journalism; WHEREAS Principle 2 of the Declaration of Chapultepec states that: “Every person has the right to seek and receive information, express opinions and disseminate them freely. No one may restrict or deny these rights”; THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES: to remind President Barack Obama of his commitment, reiterated on tshe first day of his term of government, to initiate “a new era of open government,” characterized by transparency in public management; to manifest its concern for the restrictive potential of these judicial measures against social networks that affect the freedom of expression of Internet users.