Scientists harassed by corporations to reveal information on their research
Activists and corporations are increasingly using public information laws to intimidate researchers into disclosing data that should be confidential
In 2009, a law firm representing multinational Philip Morris submitted freedom of information requests to the University of Stirling in Scotland for the work of three scientists who were studying the impact of tobacco marketing on adolescents.
They sought all primary data, questionnaires, handbooks and documents relating to the work of researchers Gerard Hastings, Anne Marie Mackintosh and Linda Bauld - much of which was confidential.
Although the requests were eventually dropped due to negative publicity, responding to and challenging them cost the scientists and the university's lawyers many weeks of work.
"The stress of all this is considerable," the scientists involved, wrote afterwards. "We are not lawyers and, like most civilians, find the law abstruse and the overt threat of serious punishment extremely disconcerting."
This was no isolated incident. Activists and corporations of all political stripes in a growing number of countries are increasingly harassing and intimidating university scientists, using public information laws originally designed for citizens to understand the workings of government.
In an editorial in magazine, climate scientist Michael Mann explored this problem and asked: how do we balance public accountability with the privacy essential for scientific inquiry?
