"This decision levels the playing field between victims and schools by showing that the current statute of limitations isn't absolute," said Robert Boynton, communications director for the Horace Mann Action Coalition, a nonprofit organization founded to push Horace Mann to investigate sexual abuse at the school.
"The verbal position of the Department of Justice," he said, "was very threatening and put an absolute chilling effect on doctors' communications with their patients.
"This is certainly an encouraging moment, but it's not an absolute victory here," said Dan Quinn, communications director for Texas Freedom Network, an organization that opposes bathroom bills.
He justified the decision to give many communications with the Royal Family an absolute exemption from FOI, while emphasizing it was a cabinet decision.
While carriers are unlikely to increase spending on networking equipment by 30percentt next year, as they are doing in 2000, demand for new communications equipment is likely to rise in absolute terms next year and for years to come, they say.
Like the lawyer-client privilege, the privilege over private communications between husband and wife is almost absolute, legal experts say, even when one spouse confesses a crime to another.
Hamas maintained absolute radio silence and never mentioned Shalit in any electronic communications or allowed any visits, packages or letters, either in or out.
The amount is difficult to quantify in absolute terms because of the offsetting increase in the quality speed and volume of communications, but is estimated at US$11 million per year.
And most open-source projects are governed by a "benevolent dictator", an individual with exceptional programming, organisational and communications skills such as Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux.The power of these leaders, however, is not absolute.
Starr is strict, however, about the winning formula: communications does well only when it follows his American model, in which neither the government nor private monopolies gain absolute control.
