Discuss (b) Already-public defense

Classified information — information whose disclosure the law protects in the public interest, on the state's own designation: the secrets the state keeps. The definition's two elements: (i) the content's sensitivity — the disclosure would harm a protected public interest; (ii) the classification act — the authorized designation restricting access (the label "secret" made by the official with the power to make it). The kinds (the categories of the protected interests — the Right to Information Act 2064's exemption list as the map): Sovereignty, integrity and national security: the defence documents, the security operations, the intelligence — the classic state secrets; International relations: the diplomatic communications, the negotiation positions — the relations' prejudice test; Law enforcement and investigation: the ongoing investigations, the informers' identities, the methods — the case's integrity; Economic and commercial confidence: the budget-before-budget, the negotiations, the third parties' commercial secrets held by the state; Personal privacy: the individual's records held by public bodies (the tax file, the health record) — privacy's statutory zone (Unit 2.4); The classification levels' practice: the secret/confidential gradings used in the record- keeping system — the higher the harm, the tighter the circle. The RTI Act's discipline on classification (the anti-over-classification design): the Act requires that information not be classified to hide wrongdoing or avoid embarrassment; the classification must fit the exemption categories,…