Government transparency: Single pool of storage could save money and allow better access

Deluged by data, the federal government looks to virtualized storage to create a single pool of storage capacity controlled from a central console making it easier to retrieve data. -db
NextGov
August 23, 2010
By Carolyn Duffy Marsan
The federal government is awash in data. And it’s expanding at rates faster than chief information officers can count. No [...]

Domestic spying: Uncle Sam developing ability to reach wide and deep on Internet

Through its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has revealed that the FBI and CIA are aggressively perfecting their ability to probe social networks and the Internet for intelligence data much of which is outside the law enforcement context. -db
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
August 16, 2010
By Tim Wayne
In the midst of recent [...]

Immigration judge blasts leak in Obama’s aunt’s asylum case

A judge who granted asylum to President Barack Obama’s African aunt ruled she deserved to stay in the United States because a federal government official leaked her status to a news organization, making her a potential target for persecution in her native Kenya.

August 18, 2010
By The [...]

Federal transparency: Changes in administration raise questions

Transparency advocates are wondering if recent changes in Obama administration management mean that Obama is stepping back from his commitment to open government. -db
NextGov
August 16, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
As the Obama administration gently pushes agencies to follow their transparency plans, recent changes in key management positions at the White House have watchdog groups concerned the open government [...]

WikiLeaks makes serious rent in government secrecy

With release of the Afghan War Diary, WikiLeaks has established new ground in the struggle between the public’s right-to-know and the government’s desire for secrecy, but it is hugely ironic that WikiLeaks itself operates in secrecy, refusing to release details on its modus operandi. -db
New Scientist
Editorial
August 16, 2010
By David Cohen
“QUICK, you’ve got to come [...]

Federal judge orders Army to release information on effectiveness of body armor

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Army must release information to a veteran studying the effectiveness of body armor in preventing wounds to the torso area or cite specific exemptions for withholding the information. -db
Courthouse News Service
August 16, 2010
By Joe Celentino
(CN) – A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the Army’s medical [...]

Muslim civil liberties group files suit to force police to release information on raid resulting in cleric’s death

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is seeking details about a raid led by the FBI on a Muslim cleric suspected of running a criminal gang. The cleric was killed by agents. -db
Wall Street Journal
August 9,2010
By Alex P. Kellogg
DETROIT—A leading Muslim advocacy group is accusing local and state law-enforcement agencies of improperly withholding [...]

Wikileaks didn’t just happen. It exists because journalists have lost control over their information.

BY PETER SCHEER–The New York Times’ front-page stories on the war in Afghanistan–based on a massive leak of classified US military cables and other documents–are not likely to change the course of the war. But they represent a sea change in the way journalists report on national security.
The records for the [...]

Homeland Security sent freedom of information requests through political filter

For at least a year, the Homeland Security Department detoured requests for federal records to senior political advisers for highly unusual scrutiny, probing for information about the requesters and delaying disclosures deemed too politically sensitive, according to nearly 1,000 pages of internal e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.
AP
July 21, 2010
By Ted Bridis
WASHINGTON (AP) — The department [...]

Freedom of Information Act requests down in 2009

The Obama administration attributes a significant drop in FOIA requests in 2009 to their efforts to post more government data online. But a recent report said that less than a third of federal agencies had changed their FOIA procedures since his first day in office when President Obama ordered them to “adopt a presumption in [...]

ACLU sues over access to surveillance documents

The American Civil Liberties filed suit in federal district court to obtain documents concerning the federal government’s surveillance of U.S. citizens using the electronic media to communicate with people overseas. -db

FierceGovernment
June 7 2010
By David Perera
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit June 3 in a New York federal district court to receive documents pertaining to [...]

Public interest groups ask U.S. Supreme Court to overturn ruling they claim detrimental to Freedom of Information Act

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press joined other public interest groups in filing a brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn a Third Circuit opinion that would extend privacy rights to corporations, potentially limiting investigations into such disasters as the West Virginia mining deaths and the gulf oil spill. -db

Reporters Committee for Freedom [...]

AT&T claims privacy rights in defending itself against allegations it overcharged government

According to Techdirt writer, Mike Masnick, another court decision giving companies similar legal rights to individuals, including privacy rights, could make it difficult for the public to obtain records including those about mine safety violations, problems at offshore oil rigs or health conditions at food manufacturing plants. -db
Techdirt
Opinion
May 26, 2010
By Mike Masnick

Should companies have [...]

Open government movement seen as way to engage private sector companies to improve government services

Tech book publisher Tim O’Reilly thinks that with greater openness in government, private sector companies will deliver software, services and applications to provide new and improved services at a lower cost to the public and in the process shrink the size of government. -db

InformationWeek
Opinion
May 24, 2010
By John Foley

Tim O’Reilly is raising the bar on [...]

British Petroleum not divulging test results on worker safety in gulf oil spill

Critics are saying that the federal government is not doing enough to get BP to improve monitoring in the gulf oil spill and to release test results on worker exposure to evaporating oil and burning oil. -db

McClatchy Newspapers
Commentary
May 18, 2010
By Marisa Taylor and Renee Schoof
WASHINGTON, D.C. — BP, the company in charge of the [...]

Senate climate bill includes provisions for transparency

The newly introduced Senate climate bill includes provisions calling for transparency and public participation. OMB Watch says if the bill is signed into law, the success of emissions reduction may well depend on the openness of the climate change policies. -db

OMB Watch
Commentary
May 18, 2010

Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) recently introduced long-awaited Senate [...]

Search continues for Bush e-mails gone missing

CREW and the National Security Archive are asking government agencies to intensify efforts to conserve e-mails as they suspect that even more Bush e-mails are missing than thought previously. -db

NextGov
May 17, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
The George W. Bush administration failed to archive 83 percent of e-mails for 21 days during a two-year period, according to watchdog [...]

Foundation uses Freedom of Information Act in seeking records on Patriot Act effectiveness

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed suit to obtain records on the effectiveness of provisions of the Patriot Act giving the FBI powers to seize electronic records and property and to wiretap phone conversations. The provisions are up for Congressional review early next year. -db

Electronic Frontier Foundation
May 11, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Electronic Frontier Foundation [...]

In tradeoff Federal Reserve yields to pressure for greater transparency

A consensus has emerged in the Senate to allow the Federal Reserve to retain its powers to set interests rates but in return the Fed must submit to additional audits by the General Accounting Office. -db

The New York Times
May 10, 2010
By Sewell Chan
The Federal Reserve appears to have succeeded in fending off a challenge to [...]

Government watchdog groups says Department of Justice thwarted interview of convicted lobbyist

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a Freedom of Information Act request concerning what they claim are government efforts to block interviews with Jack Abramoff now serving a prison term for conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion in an influence-peddling scandal in Washington. -db
THE WRAP
May 5, 2010
By Steve Pond
Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff [...]

Obama administration claims visitor logs exempt from Freedom of Information Act

Despite district court holdings to the contrary, in a recent court filing the Obama Justice Department claimed that White House visitor logs are exempt from the FOIA. -db

Judicial Watch
Press Release
April 29, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that the Obama Justice Department advanced the erroneous [...]

Iraq war: Federal transparency lacking without muscle behind Freedom of Information Act

Frank Smyth, the Journalism Security Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, argues that Obama’s promises for greater transparency are proving empty with the military failing to provide access to information about the killing of civilians and journalists in Iraq. -db
Committee to Protect Journalists
Commentary
April 26, 2010
By Frank Smyth

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The White House says it [...]

Fox Business sues Federal Reserve again to obtain recent bailout records

Fox Business Network has added to its suit to obtain documents from the Federal Reserve on which financial firms received bailout money. The new suit seeks to learn which firms received money since the first suit was filed. -db

FOXBusiness
April 20 2010
By Adam Shapiro
FOX Business Network has expanded its quest for documents from the Federal [...]

Senate committee approves bill to speed freedom of information requests

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Faster Freedom of Information Act, a law that would establish a commission to study the problem of delays in FOIA requests and recommend changes to speed the process. -db

CREW
April 15, 2010
By Jeremy Miller
Today the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Faster Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), bipartisan legislation sponsored by [...]

Federal judge releases documents used in Blagojevich indictment

A federal judge ruled that releasing documents used to develop charges against former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich would not adversely compromise the jury pool for Blagojevich’s trial. -db

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
April 14, 2010
By Mara Zimmerman

An Illinois federal judge has given three news organizations immediate access to a previously sealed document in [...]

Business publication rates top 10 Obama administration open government programs

ExectiveBiz has published a list of its top open government programs, including many of direct help to business. -db
ExecutiveBiz
April 12, 2010
By Jim Garrettson

Top 10 Open Government Programs

Open Government has been a major priority of the Obama administration since the campaign trail, and last week was the publication deadline of each agency’s open government plan. Below, [...]

Move underway to hold Obama administration to higher standard on preserving official e-mail correspondence

A California House Republican has criticized a White House official for conducting official correspondence on Web-based e-mail that could easily be deleted. -db

NextGov
April 12, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein

A House Republican is questioning the legality of a White House official’s reported use of Web-based e-mail to communicate with lobbyists at Google and high-ranking White House officials.
Rep. Darrell [...]

Open government advocates find much to like in latest federal plans for transparency

The Obama administration plans for implementing their Open Government Directive has received much praise with the reservation that some federal agencies seem more committed to transparency than others. -db

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
April 9, 2010
By Miranda Fleschert

Federal agencies unveiled open government plans this week as required by the Obama administration’s Open Government [...]

Presidential pardons: Obama administration puts privacy above transparency

The Justice Department filed a brief in federal appeals court in a bid to deny a journalist’s request for the names of the nearly 10,000 individuals denied clemency by President George W. Bush. -db

Politico
Commentary
March 29, 2010
By Josh Gerstein

While President Barack Obama has vowed to operate the most open and transparent administration in history, he does not [...]

Defense Department fails to make case for revealing contractors’ quality control information

A federal court sided with defense contractors against the Defense Department in blocking the release of information about quality of control processes that the defense contractors said were trade secrets. -db

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
March 25, 2010
By Nadia Tamez-Robledo
A federal appeals court yesterday ruled in favor of two defense contractors seeking [...]

Sunlight Foundation wants freedom of information law for Internet

The Sunlight Foundation argues that in the Internet age it is imperative to require the government to post public information in a timely and user-friendly way. It supports Public Online Information Act, a law that modernizes government disclosure. -db

Sunlight Foundation
Opinion
March 23, 2010
In the age of the Internet, government is transparent only when public information is [...]

Federal Reserve ordered to release bank bailout records

A federal appeals court in New York City ruled that the Federal Reserve Board must disclose document identifying financial firms that might have collapsed without the government bailout. -db

Bloomberg News
March 19, 2010
By David Glovin and Bob Van Voris
(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve Board must disclose documents identifying financial firms that might have collapsed without the [...]

Increase in stonewalling on Freeedom of Information Act requests under Obama

The Associated Press found that despite pledges on improved transparency the Obama administration federal agencies increased use of FOIA exemptions in its first year in office. -db

Newser
March 15, 2010
By Sharon Theimer

(AP) The government’s use of legal exemptions to keep records secret rose during President Barack Obama’s first year in office, despite promises of increased [...]

Study of FBI documents shows censorship withheld harmless information

The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that in the face of Freedom of Information Act requests, federal agencies hide their activities in excessive secrecy in spite of Obama administration directives to the agencies to make a “presumption of openness” in implementing FOIA requests. -db

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Commentary
March 15, 2010
By David L. Sobel

As the transparency community celebrates Sunshine [...]

Transparency experts advising patience over Obama open government initiative

Federal agencies easily met the first deadline in the Obama open government initiative, but the next steps for improving transparency and getting public feedback will take longer say open government experts. -db

Federal Times
March 10, 2010
By Gregg Calstrom

The first steps were easy: Most agencies met the first deadline of President Obama’s December directive to launch open government [...]

Journalist appeals denial of mug shot of federal fugitive

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 [...]

Federal court orders release of list of jets used by Big 3 automakers

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 [...]

Watchdog group accuses VA of destroying documents on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among soldiers

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 [...]

Federal archivist calls for reform on declassification policy and procedure

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 [...]

Federal appeals court orders disclosure of names of telecom lobbyists

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 [...]

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