Blacklist — the inside story of political vetting

BOOK REVIEWS INFCdIMATIO N USE AND M ~ U S E Freedom of Information - the law, the practice and the ideal by Patrick 8irkinshaw, 1988 (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 291pp.) E18 (cased), £11.95 (paper) ISBN 0297 793 446 (cased) ISBN 0297 793 861 (pbk.) This book looks at what it calls "the development and maintenance of secrecy as a practice of the British Government". It examines the relationship between law, political culture and information control and compares the argument for and against the need for a Freedom of Information Act against the working of the Official Secrets Acts prior to the present proposals to reform the law during the present parliamentary session. The authors describe the writing of the final stages of the book as taking place "amid a virtually unprecedented frenzy of litigation involving the press and media and government attempts to restrain what they could publish or broadcast". There are sections on persistent themes and novel problems, the overseas experience in freedom of information, a historical analysis of government and information, claims and counterclaims, openness within government and in the courts and a conclusion that considers the state of play today. Passing reference is made to the relation between computers and information, particularly in relation to the storage of personal data on computers managed by police, government departments or licensing authorities. There is also a brief look at the Date Protection Act 1984 and the context in which that Act was introduced. Available from Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 91 Clapham High Street, London SW4 7TA Blacklist the inside story of political vetting by MArk Hollingsworth and Richard Norton-Taylor, 1988 (The Hogarth Press, 258pp) £7.95 ISBN 070 12 08112 This book examines a history and current extent of political vetting and -

black-listing in the private and public sectors in Britain today. It describes vetting as more than a "system" but rather a network of official and unofficial security agencies: "who weave a web in which many individuals are trapped and from which they cannot escape.., from numerous case histories, from private interviews and conversations and from published and broadcast material a highly disturbing pattern has emerged". The book looks at vetting within the civil service, the defence industry, British Telecom, the security services, in the BBC, the engineering and construction industry, the car industry, the private security industry and the police. There is also a section that looks at the Economic League, whose blacklist of individuals compiled since 1919 supplies information to more than 2000 companies who subscribe to the League's services. Through its seven regional offices, the League checked more than 200,000 people in 1986 alone, yet the individuals whose names appear on their lists have no right of access to the information since the Data Protection Act 1984 does not extend to manual records. An appendix to the book lists the names of Economic League personnel and companies who subscribe to the League. Available from The Hogarth Press, 30 Bedford Square, London WClB 3SG

ARBITRATION

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UNClTRAL Arbitration Model in Canada by Robert K Paterson and Bonita J Thompson, QC, 1987 (Carswell Legal Publications, 253pp.) Can. $41.25 ISBN 0459 310 410 This book contains the proceedings of a conference that took place at the University of British Columbia in May 1986 to discuss the development of an international commercial arbitration centre operating under rules based on those adopted by UNClTRAL (United Nations Centre for International Trade Law) in 1976. The conference provided a forum for presenting and exchanging different points of view on the settlement of international business disputes and attracted

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speakers from twelve countries. The work, which is a collection of edited papers presented at the conference, is divided into three sections: Part I examines the various methods of solving transnational disputes; Part II describes the arbitration laws and policies of key Pacific Rim stages (ie the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and China) and of the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration in Paris. Part III focuses on the "developing Canadian profile" in international commercial arbitration. The appendix produces concordances of all the legislation dealt with in the book. Although not specifically concerned with arbitration in computer matters, the book is useful in sketching out the history of the development of major dispute resolution mechanisms around the world and the machinery now being devised to regulate arbitration matters on an international basis. Available from Carswell Legal Publications, 2330 Midland Avenue, Agincourt, Ontario, Canada MIS 1P7~

OTHER r ~

Carol Cli'ne . . . . . . . . . . . .

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tnformation Seaa,tty Yearbook Edited by Jack Smith . . . .

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