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 [...]

Iowans lack clear relief when open government requests are denied

Public records requests are often denied to citizens of Iowa, who have no way to ensure that the state’s Sunshine Laws are properly followed.  -SMD
The Iowa Independent
News/Commentary
July 12, 2010
By Adam B. Sullivan
From rural township boards to the governor’s office, each level of government in Iowa is responsible for carrying out the state’s open records and open [...]

New study questions premise that government secrecy promotes better decision-making

A new report challenges the view that government deliberations must be private to achieve candor. The authors of the report say that secrecy actually discourages dissenters from voicing their concerns. -db

Secrecy News
May 20, 2010
By Steven Aftergood

When the Supreme Court ordered the Nixon White House to comply with a subpoena for the Watergate tapes in the [...]

UN sees freedom of information as crucial in promoting justice, development and democracy

In marking World Press Freedom Day, top United Nations officials condemned the killing of journalists, 77 last year, and called for countries to protect those working in the media. -db

UN News Centre
May 3, 2010

Marking the annual World Press Freedom Day, top United Nations officials have called for promoting the universal right to publicly-held information as [...]

Google’s new Public Data Explorer raises questions about access to public records

With new search avenues,  journalists will have greater ability to search public records, but some public agencies across the country claim ownership rights to the records and are reluctant to make records available and even one state, Oklahoma, has raised millions in revenue from selling data. -db

Citizen Media Law Project
Analysis
April 28, 2010
By Helen Fu

In March, [...]

Marin news staff wins Freedom of Information award in CNPA contest

A team of journalists on the staff of Marin’s Independent Journal won first place for Freedom of Information reporting in the 2009 California Newsaper Publisher Association contest. The staff members won for their work in getting the county to release payroll details that shed light on budget problems. -db

Marin Independent Journal
April 20, 2010
By Brad Breithaupt
WINNING [...]

CIA admits destroying tapes of abusive interrogations

The Central Intelligence Agency admitted that the agency’s top officials destroyed hundreds of tapes depicting abusive interrogations of suspects. -db
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
April 16,2010
By Miranda Fleschert
The Central Intelligence Agency released email messages on Thursday that reveal the former director of the agency approved of — and joked about — the decision [...]

Irag video research edges Wikileaks into investigative reporting role

Wikileaks has adopted the tools of investigative and advocacy journalism–including sending two people to Baghdad to research the story behind the Iraq video–to get leaked information out to the public.

Iraq Video Brings Notice to a Web Site
The New York Times
By NOAM COHEN and BRIAN STELTER
“Have encrypted videos of U.S. bomb strikes on [...]

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 [...]

Leading gubernatorial candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown need to show voters, by their own actions, that they are committed to transparency in government. Promises won’t cut it.

BY PETER SCHEER—As California voters begin the process of selecting the next  Governor of the ungovernable Golden State, the leading candidates owe them a demonstration of their commitment to government transparency.
All politicians are supportive of open-government “in principle;”  the question is whether they are committed in practice. The best test for that is a candidate’s [...]

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 [...]

Wikileaks releasing 500,000 9/11 pager intercepts

Today WikiLeaks started releasing over half a million 9/11 text pager intercepts in hopes of gaining “a nuanced understanding of how this event led to death, opportunism and war.”
Wikileaks
9/11 tragedy pager intercepts.
From 3AM on Wednesday November 25, 2009, until 3AM the following day (US east coast time), WikiLeaks is releasing over half a million US [...]

China trip: Obama’s call for greater Internet freedom gets mixed reception

Chinese citizens were glad to hear U.S. President Barack Obama’s support for greater Internet freedom in China but were skeptical about the impact of his comments. The Chinese government censored the comments on the official news agency and deleted them from Web sites. -DB
Radio Free Asia
November 17, 2009

SHANGHAI — Chinese Internet users gave mixed reactions [...]

FBI releases former Vice President Cheney’s interview on outing of CIA agent

The transcript of Dick Cheney’s FBI interview on the Valerie Plame incident was released to the public last week. Both the Bush or Obama administrations tried to keep the transcript secret. -DB

Reporters Committee on Freedom of the Press
November 2, 2009
By Amanda Becker

The FBI released documents under court order Friday that show former Vice President Dick [...]

ACLU letter to Gates: Don’t use discretionary power to withhold torture photos

The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the Defense Secretary Robert Gates urging him not to use discretionary power in a bill expected to be signed this week to keep secret photos of abuse of detainees held by the U.S. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
October 21, 2009
By Miranda Fleschert
The American Civil [...]

Secret Service denies access to 2009 White House visitor records

After the Obama administration agreed to start releasing visitor logs starting December 31,  the watchdog group Judicial Watch was denied access to White House visitor logs from January 20 through September 15 of this year and does not understand why only these records merit protection. The Secret Service just says the records do not come [...]

Obama administration asks Supreme Court to delay decision on appeal of release of detainee torture photos

The United States Solicitor General asked the Supreme Court to postpone deciding whether to hear the case over whether abuse photos of detainees should be released to the public. If the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill is signed into law, provisions in the bill would allow the administration to withhold the photos from public scrutiny, making [...]

Senate moves to back Obama in barring release of torture photos

A senate Committee voted to amend the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill to include language to allow the Secretary of Defense to withhold photos of detainees who had undergone torture. -DB
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
October 8, 2009
By Miranda Fleschert
Barring the release of photos depicting abuse of detainees in U.S. custody was again [...]

Securities Exchange Commission baselessly refusing to release documents

When a requester asked for copies from the SEC of internal news clips, the SEC cited the Copyright act as the statute allowing them to refuse the request, when, case law says the Copyright act may not be used to block access. -DB
The FOIA Blog
Commentary
September 25, 2009
By Scott A. Hodes
I have been informed that the [...]

Federal court orders release of Bush clemency records

rivacy exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act will not block the release of the names of those pardoned by President George W. Bush, a federal appeals court ruled. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
August 7, 2009
By Jonathan Jones
The names of people who President George W. Bush rejected for executive clemency cannot be withheld [...]

Federal court to re-hear open meeting law case

The full appeals court in New Orleans will consider a case decided by a three-judge panel that ruled that the Texas Open Meetings Act violated elected officials’ free speech rights by requiring a quorum to discuss government business outside a public meeting. -DB
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Commentary
July 30, 2009
By Hannah Bergman
A federal appellate court [...]