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Transparency and data protection in the context of e-government: two case studies

The paper examines the two contrasting values of today’s information society within the context of e-government: transparency and data protection. In the first part we introduce the concept of transparency, followed by the analysis of its legal aspects – the developments in the right to access to information, or freedom of information, legislation. The second part focuses on transparency’s counterpart. The personal data protection is examined, by presenting its object and aim as defined by European legal sources. The main part consists of presenting and analysing two case studies from recent Croatian political reality – the petition for referendum case and the war veterans case. Both cases relate to the collision of two values, and show that textual interpretation of the laws can lead to the politically driven solutions. The paper concludes that the choice between two is not always easy and unambiguous, but that it seeks for fine balancing and prioritising of values by taking into account both public interest and individual right for privacy.

transparency; access to information; data protection; Croatia; e-government

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