The Government will reserve comment on a push from the Law Commission for easier access to official information from within government departments until public feedback on an issues paper has been weighed up.
The commission this week released the paper as part of its review of the Official Information Act (OIA) and parts of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.
The review looks at which agencies are subject to the OIA and the types of information covered by it.
Law Commissioner John Burrows said the OIA was "one of the best things that has happened in government in the past 50 years", but that the digital revolution had sparked a need for it to be reviewed.
"In the past, official information consisted mainly of hard copy documents. Today it can take many new forms such as email, tweets, text messages, blogs and digital video," Professor Burrows said.
Technological change had also helped drive social and cultural change. "Partly because of it, there is now a much stronger expectation of openness and availability of information than in the past.
"People have generally become more suspicious of any government activity that takes place in secret. Citizens expect to be able to find out how, why, and by whom government decisions are made."
Prof Burrows said a survey showed there was frustration from some OIA users who felt government departments did not always take sufficient note of the public interest when declining requests for information.
The commission had also received feedback from some government departments that were sometimes overwhelmed by the volume and scope of some requests.
The issues paper noted a trend in other jurisdictions, particularly Britain and Australia, towards a more proactive release of information.
Prof Burrows said there was no body responsible for championing open government or acting as a watchdog of underlying open government principles, and it needed to be asked whether a separate body should be charged with that role.
A spokesman from Justice Minister Simon Power's office said any comment on the issue would be reserved until the Law Commission had reported back following the response it got from the issues paper.
He said the commission might come back with a few changes, but options needed to be considered in light of public feedback.
Prof Burrows said the commission was keen to hear from agencies that applied the acts, along with the public in general. The closing date for submissions is December 10.