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Radical sharing:

How Fiquem Sabendo and DataFixers.org use FOI and public records in Brazil

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Context

  • Brazil's Freedom of Information Act, known as LAI - Lei de Acesso à Informação, was enacted in 2012.

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Context

  • Brazil's Freedom of Information Act, known as LAI - Lei de Acesso à Informação, was enacted in 2012.
  • Every request sent to the federal government by any person is made available online by the government on a repository.

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Context

  • Brazil's Freedom of Information Act, known as LAI - Lei de Acesso à Informação, was enacted in 2012.
  • Every request sent to the federal government by any person is made available online by the government on a repository.
  • If the government accepts to send information to an individual, they cannot deny the same data to another person. Sharing knowledge is the best way to avoid state secrecy.

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  • Newsletter, 16,000 subscribers
  • Released every 15 days

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  • Newsletter, 16,000 subscribers
  • Released every 15 days
  • Tutorials about FOI

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  • Newsletter, 16,000 subscribers
  • Released every 15 days
  • Tutorials about FOI
  • Workshops

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  • Newsletter, 16,000 subscribers
  • Released every 15 days
  • Tutorials about FOI
  • Workshops
  • Government schedules in a single platform

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  • Newsletter, 16,000 subscribers
  • Released every 15 days
  • Tutorials about FOI
  • Workshops
  • Government schedules in a single platform

E-mail: contato@fiquemsabendo.com.br

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Let's chat!

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Releasing presidential corporate card expenses for the first time

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Former Brazilian president Bolsonaro loves to party.

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Former Brazilian president Bolsonaro loves to party.

with public funds.

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Brazilians had to learn a new word during his mandate: motociatas

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How much money was spent?

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  • than 10,000 receipts for 2019-2022

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This is Alexandre, the hero who coordinated our team to scan all the documents.

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This is Nutella

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+

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Keyword search: much easier to investigate expenses

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A "humble" president?

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This is condensed milk. On a government official announcement during the pandemic

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There were so many documents. We wanted everyone to look at it and investigate at the same time.

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More than 1,000 stories have been produced worldwide

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Lessons learned

  • FOI is really powerful. The government tried to deny information for years. We used it to let us in the building and obtain copies ourselves.
  • Public records need to be public. Share it - with your own newsroom, with a group of journalists, etc.
  • Access to information is a human right. It's not a favor. Use it and insist when records are not delivered.
  • When you have several documents, having more people, from different backgrounds, looking at it is the best way to find the most relevant stories.

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Thank you!