The Federal Communications Commission’s plan for national broadband access has great potential to speed communication and enhance public access to government information and services but faces obstacles in funding and net neutrality. -db
OMB Watch
March 9, 2010
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is gearing up to release its plan for national broadband access on March 17. The [...]
A Superior Court judge strengthened the Public Records Act by ruling that the press and the public had the right to access government records to answer questions about why parole officers did not check on registered sex offender Philip Garrido who had kidnapped a 12-year-old girl and held her captive for 18 years. -db
Contra Costa [...]
A Pennsylvania federal court will not allow a man suing in an employment discrimination case to discover the identities of those making posts on a new website. The man wanted the identities to discredit the testimony of those who fired him. -db
Citizen Media Law Project
Commentary
March 8, 2010
By Sam Bayard
Thomas O’Toole at TechLaw points us to [...]
A freelance journalist is appealing a federal court ruling that the U.S. Marshals Service could deny a Freedom of Information Act request for a mug shot of securities fraud fugitive, Luis Giro. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
March 3, 2010
By Curry Andrew
A freelance journalist has asked a federal appeals court to consider whether [...]
A MediaShift blogger says that the smartphone app is allowing savvy politicians to communicate their platforms, generate support for their positions, get out the vote and raise money. New apps are also expected to allow citizens greater access to government records. -db
MediaShift
Commentary
February 25, 2010
By Steven Davy
The importance of social media in politics was made [...]
Scholars say that there is increasing interest in the academic community in studying the effect of the government’s open government initiatives. -db
NextGov
March 1, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
The practice of disclosing government data in a way that is meaningful to the public and holds the government accountable could become a growing area of scholarly interest, partly [...]
ProPublica won a court battle in its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to gain the release of a list of corporate jets used by Big 3 automakers to fly to Washington, D.C. to ask for a taxpayer bail out. -db
ProPublica
Commentary
February 26, 2010
By Michael Grabell
A federal district judge ruled Friday that a list of private planes [...]
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a Freedom of Information Act request in May of 2008 for records regarding PTSC among soldiers but has not received the relevant e-mails and records and now fear that the VA destroyed the documents. -db
AllGov
February 28, 2010
By Noel Brinkerhoff
After learning that the Department of Veterans Affairs [...]
The California Newspaper Publishers Association may sponsor revisions to current law requiring disclosure of children’s deaths to address the growing trend among state and county child welfare agencies to withhold information. -db
California Newspaper Publishers Association
February 22, 2010
There is a growing trend among the state and at least one county child welfare agency to withhold information [...]
In the case of the first Guantanamo detainee to be moved from military commission system to Article III court for trial on terrorism charges, a federal judge ruled that the Department of Justice must release their memos pertaining to the transfer of the accused terrorist. -db
New York Law Journal
February 25, 2010
By Mark Hamblett
Prosecutors must produce [...]
The Citizen’s Sunshine Review Committee finished its work in February on a sunshine ordinance which was written to encourage compliance with California sunshine laws. -db
The Berkeley Daily Planet
February 25, 2010
By Dean Metzger
Sadly the sun is setting on the printed Berkeley Daily Planet, but happily the sun could rise on open government in Berkeley. After three [...]
At an event sponsored by Government Executive, panelists said that there were some promising practices in the push for government transparency including expanded employee blogging, expanded use of the social media and well-attended online forums. -db
NextGov
February 24, 2010
By Emily Long
Agencies continue to innovate in response to the Obama administration’s open government initiatives, said panelists [...]
OMB Watch designated “leaders and laggards” after it conducted a study of government web pages designed to give citizens access to crucial information. -db
OMB Watch
February 23, 2010
Complying with requirements of the Open Government Directive (OGD), federal agencies launched transparency pages on their websites Feb. 6. The content and functionality of the pages varied from non-compliant [...]
According to Michael J. Kurtz, Assistant Archivist at the National Archives, the backlog of records awaiting declassification will continue to grow until classification policies are changed. -db
Secrecy News
American Federation of Scientists
Opinion
February 22, 2010
By Steven Aftergood
Executive branch agencies have spent more than a billion dollars on declassification of government records in recent years, but [...]
The White House technology officer has challenged Republicans and Tea Party activists to a competition to establish greater transparency in government. -db
The Hill
February 22, 2010
By Kim Hart
In an ironic twist, the White House is inviting the Tea Party movement to challenge it on government transparency.
White House Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin said Republicans and [...]
Transparency activists are expressing their approval of the EPA’s new site, the Rulemaking Gateway, that provides information about regulatory actions such as the control of greenhouse gas emissions in large vehicles. -db
NextGov
February 19, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
As more agencies deploy online score cards that publicly chart the progress of specific missions, the Environmental Protection Agency’s new [...]
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review will have access to the identities of contractors who supplied first responder equipment to local agencies. In making the records public, the commonwealth court said it found no reasonable public safety argument in favor of withholding the names. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
February 11, 2010
By Cristina Abello
A Pennsylvania agency [...]
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government must reveal name of lobbyists who working for retroactive liability protection for telecom companies who participated in warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens after 9/11. -db
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
February 10, 2010
By Sherri M. Okamoto
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday ruled that the government was required [...]
A report in CQ Researcher says that with no way established to charge for online news content, there is less money to spend accessing courts, public records and public meetings. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
February 9, 2010
By Cristina Abello
As newspaper circulations drop and nightly news broadcasts garner fewer viewers, more people are [...]
Blocked from reporting on student government spending decisions and irresponsible acts at UC Santa Barbara, the student newspaper staff wrote a letter to California state officials and the legislature asking for a law to hold UC student governments to open government standards. -db
Daily Nexus
February 9, 2010
By Nexus Staff
To Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, UC President Mark Yudof, [...]
A Sacramento judge tentatively ruled that the state must hand over Phillip Garrido’s parole records. Garrido has been charged with the kidnap of an 11-year-old girl and keeping her in captivity for 18 years. -db
The Sacramento Bee
February 5, 2010
By Sam Stanton
A Sacramento judge issued a tentative ruling Thursday that would require state corrections officials [...]
Records requested under the California Public Records Act show that the five supervisors plus the county administrative officer are running up excessive expense accounts and indicated that the supervisors may have violated California’s open meeting law, the Brown Act, by dining often with a voting majority. -db
Visalia Times-Delta
Tulare Advance-Register
Editorial
February 4, 2010
The Electronic Frontier Foundation hails President Barack Obama’s statement in the State of the Union address about disclosing lobbyist contacts. The Obama administration has been fighting FOIA requests seeking identities of lobbyists working the Department of Justice and Director of National Intelligence. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
January 28, 2010
By Kurt Opsahl
In yesterday’s State of the Union address, [...]
The Roseville Joint Union High School District banned a student from playing on the Granite Bay High School basketball team for posting on Youtube a parody video about hip hop music and the youth drug culture. -db
Courthouse News Service
January 29, 2010
By Tish Kraft
AUBURN, Calif. (CN) – A dad says Roseville Joint Union High School [...]
In accordance with new government directives on transparency, federal agencies sent the Office of Management and Budget nearly 300 data sets on Jan. 22, but the Obama administration has withheld a number of the sets. -db
NextGov
January 27, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
The Obama administration has declined to post, and in some cases has removed, several sets of [...]
The Washington Post reports that federal agencies are still balking at releasing records to the public, claiming that it would interfere with internal decision-making or compromise national security. In Obama’s first year, the number of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits filed exceeds the number filed in each of Bush’s last two years. -DB
The Washington Post
January [...]
Senator Patrick Leahy was unable to obtain the bipartisan consensus he said was essential to conduct a senate investigation of Bush administration conduct on terrorism including detention, rendition and interrogation. -DB
Secrecy News
Federation of American Scientists
Commentary
January 26, 2010
By Steven Aftergood
Last year the Senate Judiciary Committee considered a proposal by Senator Patrick Leahy to establish a formal [...]
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission conspired with American International Group to keep secret the details of the company’s bailout. -DB
Reuters
January 14, 2010
By Matthew Goldstein
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve’s bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group bailout like a request [...]
For a multitude of reasons, not every official is aggressively embracing President Barack Obama’s open government directives. -DB
NextGov
Commentary
January 21, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
When he took office, President Obama said he wanted agencies to leverage new technologies to open government.
One year after the president announced an initiative to open the government, agency leaders have demonstrated a strong [...]
The executive director of the Sunlight Foundation says that the Supreme Court’s decision striking down key provisions of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law will unleash a flood of money in the political arena making it even more likely money will influence executive and legislative decisions. -DB
Sunlight Foundation
Opinion
January 21, 2010
By Ellen Miller
The ramifications of today’s Supreme [...]
Tags: BCRA, campaign finance, campaign finance reform, Citizens United, disclosure, judicial, McCain-Feingold, open government, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, transparency
A Electronic Freedom Foundation senior attorney says a recent government report posits a new legal theory affirming the FBI’s right to obtain phone records without going through a legal process but does not provide the basis for the theory or even the statutory section number the FBI uses. -DB
Electronic Freedom Foundation
Commentary
January 21, 2010
By Kurt Opsahl
Today, [...]
Tags: AT&T, CAU, domestic spying, Electronic Communications Privacy Act, exigent letters, FBI, OIG, open government, phone records, transparency, Verizon
In a reaction to strict new Congressional regulations, in increasing numbers, advocates are not registering as lobbyists making it harder to track the effect of campaign contributions and meetings with public officials. -DB
The New York Times
January 18, 2010
By David D. Kirkpatrick
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ellen Miller, co-founder of the Sunlight Foundation, has spent years arguing for rules [...]
Tags: ABA, Center for Responsive Politics, corporate lobbyists, DLA Piper, influence peddlers, lobbyists, open government, public disclosure, registration of lobbyists, Sunlight Foundation, transparency, Union of Concerned Scientists
In Doe v. Reed, the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh the right to privacy under the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech and association against the need for open government and transparency in public elections. -DB
First Amendment Center
Commentary
January 19, 2010
By Tony Mauro
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court has agreed to review a case [...]
Tags: accountability, Doe v. Reed, domestic partnership law, First Amendment, free speech, freedom of association, gay rights, open government, privacy, Protect Marriage Washington, public disclosure, Public Records Act, same-sex marriage, transparency
Congressional leaders announced that the final health care bill will go online on Twitter 72 hours prior to its consideration on the floor, a move that firmly establishes the social media as a significant player in providing public assess to the nation’s business. -DB
Sunlight Foundation
Opinion
January 15, 2010
By Paul Blumenthal
So, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer announced [...]
A Jewish-American FBI agent is suing for the right to defend himself against unspecified charges that resulted in his termination and the revocation of his security clearance. The agent had sent unclassified articles by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service and unclassified State Department documents to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. -DB
Secrecy News
Federation of American [...]
The Supreme Court agreed last week to consider whether the First Amendment guarantees the right of privacy to those signing ballot-initiative petitions. -DB
The New York Times
January 16, 2010
By Adam Liptak
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether the First Amendment requires that the names of people who sign ballot-initiative petitions be [...]
The Associated Press used the California Public Records Act to obtain documents that show that California legislators have received gifts that they failed to report, some from lobbyists and industries with much to gain from close ties to lawmakers. -DB
The San Francisco Chronicle
January 15, 2010
By Judy Lin
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California lawmaker and his wife [...]
A former member of the Watsonville City Council and Planning Commission says that greater transparency is needed in expenditures and city contracts especially in legal and consulting services. -DB
Register-Pajaronian
Opinion
January 16, 2010
By Emilio Martinez
While walking the districts these past few weeks I had some long-term Watsonville residents use the word “corrupt” numerous times when talking about [...]
A recent study by the CGI Initiative for Collaborative Government says that the government needs to build a better context for the data on spending from the federal stimulus package. As it stands the public could seize on isolated information and draw the wrong conclusions. The Obama administration says it is trying to provide more [...]
With almost 90 percent of California state publications online with no print counterpart, it is clear that any of these records are disappearing regularly, and there is no legal requirement for the executive branch of state government to preserve the information. -DB
Cal Watchdog
Commentary
January 14, 2010
By Anthony Pignataro
If there’s one thing our state government does exceptionally [...]
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