Transparency is a big buzzword among PR bloggers. The gist is that you leave no secrets about your intentions or how you arrived at a conclusion. To borrow a bad pun, you lay all your cards on the table. But how far do we need to (or should) go to achieve transparency?

Transparency is a favorite topic of Neville Hobson. Doing a quick search on his site shows 152 occurences of 'transparency' alone. In the name of tranparency sites like Boing Boing allow anyone to look at their web server stats. Back in March Steve Rubel posted a link to his stats because of, "my interest in transparency." In another step, Steve also asked to receive any pitches via del.icio.us.

I am doing this not only to cut down my mail but to make the PR pitching process transparent so that everyone can see what I blog/don't blog.

He picked up the idea from Nick Denton of Gawker Media.

These are all great steps, but is it real transparency?

I live in Florida. In our state we have the 'Sunshine Law' which is a broad public access law. This law applies to all levels of state and local government in Florida.

Florida began its tradition of openness back in 1909 with the passage of what has come to be known as the "Public Records Law," Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes. This law provides that any records made or received by any public agency in the course of its official business are available for inspection, unless specifically exempted by the Legislature. Over the years, the definition of what constitutes "public records" has come to include not just traditional written documents such as papers, maps and books, but also tapes, photographs, film, sound recordings and records stored in computers.

It was in 1967 that Florida's Government-in-the-Sunshine Law was enacted. Today, the Sunshine Law can be found in Chapter 286 of the Florida Statutes. The Sunshine Law establishes a basic right of access to most meetings of boards, commissions and other governing bodies of state and local governmental agencies or authorities

This is the ultimate in transparency.

Quick example. As a citizen, I can request to review all e-mails sent and received by my local county commissioner. Or I could ask to review all payments made to vendors or outside sources. I can review phone logs. There are a few items that are protected, but for the most part it's available, or 'in the sunshine'.

Also, as I citizen I am reminded that any e-mail I send to a local government agency might become public record. So think before you hit 'send'.

Over the years many political scandals have been born of this 'transparency', but in the end it forces all state politicians to operate above board. It is amazing that many still get into trouble by not realizing that what they are saying (even sometimes behind closed doors) is public record, but that's another issue.

With that level of transparency, anything short of that does little to impress me. So when a blogger or company say they are being transparent are they really? Let's take a look at your e-mail? phone logs? how about your financial transactions?

Perhaps we should develop a 'Transparency Scale' similar to the Department of Homeland Security Threat Advisory? Red would be limited access and green would be complete access. (or Elmo to Oscar)

For now I will take any claim of 'transparency' with a grain of salt. Sort of a "look over here!" distraction. Making a big deal out of the fact that you are "transparent" only makes me suspicious that you are hiding something.