Jeffrey Addicott, Associate Professor of Law and the Director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas, will head a $1 million project funded by the U.S. government to produce a "model statute" to restrict information disclosed under the 40-year-old Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). "There's the public's right to know, but how much?" he told USA Today. "There's a strong feeling that the law needs to balance that with the need to protect the well-being of the nation." The First Amendment Center's Paul McMasters argues that there are significant downsides to restricting information released in the name of protecting national security. "The bad story is that it can also be a great instrument of control. ... To automatically believe that the less known the better is really not rational," he said.

British American Tobacco (BAT) reached an out of court settlement in a case that threatened to explore the company's "document retention policy," under which sensitive documents were shredded. In a two-sentence statement, BAT said the case, which dealt with sharing compensation costs for a lung cancer victim, was withdrawn "on terms satisfactory" to the tobacco company. Justice Jim Curtis of the Dust Diseases Tribunal of New South Wales previously found that BAT's "document retention policy" was developed "for the purpose of a fraud." He directed BAT to produce documents relating to its shredding policy by the end of June. The settlement, which does "not include payment to or by either party," has legal observers baffled. "There will be no further comment by either party," BAT concluded.