[Markavian]

I had a similar discussion about 'fogging' information. I came to this conclusion:

You should only be allowed to see information about an empire based per system. So, total production = the number planets you can see, in the systems you have troops in.

Things like viewing treaties, that'd be down to two things:
1) have you made contact with either of the empires in the treaty.
2) do you have a treaty with one/both of the empires, i.e. are they friendly enough to mention "Oh we just signed a military treaty with your most hated enemies the Eee"

Things like warppoints opening/closing, stars exploding, etc... you can either:
1) Tell everyone about it
2) Only tell people who were in the system
3) Tell everyone, but only give full details to those in the system.

e.g. I'm in the system, the message might be: "The Eee have created a blackhole in the Xal system sucking in almost all life that previously existed, only a few traders made it to the warppoint before the attack."

e.g. I'm not in the system, I've never been there: "Astrologists report that a star in Q4 of the universe diminished and turned into a blackhole. It is sure all life / planets in this system will have been destroyed."

(Note, no mention of 'who-did-it').

I think news reports like that, and graphs and tables only showing near space would work. Just depends on the size and scale of the game, and how easy it is to move around.