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 [...]

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 [...]

Performance reviews of federal contractors go online

A new law requires the Office of Management and Budget to publish contractor integrity information online. -db
NextGov
August 4, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
A bill President Obama recently signed requires the Office of Management and Budget to disclose on a public website contractor integrity information housed in a new vendor performance database, reversing a recent [...]

UC Irvine: Muslim Student Union suspended for year for disrupting Israel ambassador’s speech

The Muslim Student Union has appealed University of California Irvine’s suspension of their group for one year, saying that the suspension would create a chilling effect on expression of ideas and hurt their efforts to combat marginalization. -db

The Orange County Register
June 15, 2010
By Deepa Bharath and Ellyn Pak
IRVINE, Calif.– UC Irvine’s Muslim Student Union [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Environmental Protection Agency stonewalls on hazards of New Mexico landfills

According to a report from the EPA Inspector General, the EPA circumvented the Freedom of Information Act by not keeping records and marking unclassified records as confidential. The EPA blocked efforts of a New Mexico group investigating hazardous landfills and Albuquerque’s groundwater. -db

Secrecy News
Federation of American Scientists
May 5, 2010
By Steven Aftergood
Officials of the Environmental Protection [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

States move to exclude 911 recordings from public record

Noting a trend to keep 911 records from the public, Citizen Media Law Project blogger Justin Silverman argues that there is a compelling public interest in allowing access to the records in the interest of shining light on the performance of public safety officers . He says laws can guarantee access and still protect the [...]

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 [...]

Congress acts to cast federal transparency initiatives in cement

A bipartisan move is afoot to make Obama’s transparency initiatives permanent. -db

NextGov
March 18, 2010
By Aliya Sternstein
Lawmakers from both parties are pursuing efforts that would require agencies to post public information online by default, moves that would preserve for posterity elements of the Obama administration’s open government agenda.
Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., introduced on Tuesday the [...]

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 [...]

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 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 [...]

Report says press freedom eroding with shift to online media

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 [...]

Media legal group joins freedom of information organization to support online reporters

The Online Media Legal Network of the Citizen Media Law Project is joining with the National Freedom of Information Coalition to help reporters with government information requests and FOIA lawsuits. -db
Citizens Media Law Project
Press Release
February 1, 2010
The Citizen Media Law Project is pleased to announce that its Online Media Legal Network (OMLN) is partnering [...]

A SEC lawyer, now running for Congress, disclosed protected information about whistleblower to his employer’s lawyer

The Security Exchange Commission’s commitment to protecting whistleblowers has been brought into question by a case in which a SEC lawyer handed over protected and nonpublic information to the whistleblower’s employer, JPMorgan Chase. -db
Politics Daily
January 28, 2010
By Michael Smallberg and Adam Zagorin
George Demos is a Republican Congressional candidate from Eastern Long Island whose Web site [...]

Obama favors disclosing contacts between lobbyists with administration or Congress

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, [...]

Under Obama federal agencies still fighting record requests

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 [...]

Rights organization sues to obtain ethics report on Bush lawyers who wrote ‘torture memo’

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit to force the Department of Justice to release to the public a report that explores possible ethics violations by the lawyers who wrote the Bush administration’s “torture memos.” -DB

American Civil Liberties Union
Press Release
January 22, 2010

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today to compel [...]

Securities and Exchange Commission hides information about AIG bailout

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 [...]

Federal Reserve strives to avoid disclosure on bailouts

The Federal Reserve is gearing up for two legal battles over suits seeking documents relating to the $2 trillion loan program to keep banks from collapsing in 2008. -DB
Daily Finance
Commentary
January 11, 2010
By Lita Epstein

The Federal Reserve is trying to ensure that what happens at the Fed, stays at the Fed.

In the first of two brewing [...]

Watchdogs needed to ensure federal openness initiatives don’t stagnate

The Obama administration has made significant progress in improving transparency, but a lot more work is needed to achieve full openness and accountability. DB

Bangor Daily News
Editorial
January 11, 2010
President Barack Obama took office with a promise of transparency. He has made strides, but he still has a way to go.

In his first 100 days, the traditional [...]

Federal judge orders release of documents from 2009 Blackwater case

A federal judge ordered the release of redacted documents from a 2009 hearing over whether the government used immunized statements of Blackwater guards on trial for a 2007 Baghdad shooting. -DB

Courthouse News Service
January 8, 2010
By Avery Fellow

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the released of redacted documents from last year’s hearing examining whether the [...]

Post-Madoff: Group sues Securities and Exchange Commission for reform documents

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has sued the SEC for failing to provide records of reforms implemented in the wake of Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme. -DB
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
January 7, 2010
By Amanda Becker
The government accountability group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has sued the [...]

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