Sunlight Foundation files its first Freedom of Information Act lawsuit
From Sunlight Foundation: Today the Sunlight Foundation filed its very first Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. In May 2013, we sent a FOIA request to the General Services Administration (GSA) requesting a copy of all contract notices that ...
Google, SpiderOak encrypt best against NSA, report says
From U.S. News: Want to know which companies are protecting your data property against interception by spies at the National Security Agency or hackers who might be able to snoop your email on public wireless signals? Google, Dropbox, Sonic.ne ...
NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for November 22, 2013
From NFOIC: A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives. Minnesota high court: Business not subject to open-records laws read more ...
Social media monitoring secrecy will cost feds
From Courthouse News Service: (CN) - After stonewalling demands about its plans to monitor social media, the Department of Homeland Security owes $30,000 in attorneys' fees, a federal judge ruled. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) s ...
Castle Rock couple sues town for records in police shooting
From The Denver Post: The ACLU and a Castle Rock couple whose car was hit by a police officer's bullet while he was responding to a burglary in February are suing town officials for records related to the shooting and the officer's conduct. Town and police officials have repeatedly denied Michael and Susan Cardellas' open-records requests for documents detailing the internal investigation into the Feb. 21 shooting, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday. The couple also wants information concerning Officer Terry Watts' conduct about 1 p.m. that day, when he fired his rifle at fleeing burglary suspects in a Ford ...
VA Risks Worsening Already-Bad FOIA Performance
COLUMBIA, Mo -- The Veterans Administration’s so far unexplained new processing policy for FOIA requests is examined in this report by reporter John Ryan at KUOW radio, the NPR affiliate in Seattle. "Here's a new layer of review for an agency that is already doing poorly on response times, and it's probably going to make it worse," said Ken Bunting with the National Freedom of Information Coalition in Columbia, Mo. "Instead of improving the backlog, it's going to add to the backlog." read more ...
Coroner requests steep fee for public records
From The Cortez Journal: The Cortez Journal is challenging what it considers to be an unwarranted fee request for public records. Montezuma County Coroner Charlie Rosenbaugh has sought a $15 administrative fee for a copy of an autopsy report. Under Colorado open-records laws, autopsy reports are considered public records, and officials are prohibited from charging more than 25 cents per page for copies of such records. The sought-after autopsy report from Rosenbaugh is for an inmate who died while in custody at the Montezuma County jail. A two-page preliminary report reveals Harrison M. Begay, 38, of Tonalea, Ariz., died inside ...
Another Wikileaks disclosure
The latest from Wikileaks suggests U.S. may be limiting consumer information in move purportedly aimed at patent protections. Is it sound policy, or misguided secrecy? Does it protect industry interests or consumers? http://bloom.bg/Id5OAV ...
Obama transparency edict gets lost in the fog
From The Washington Post: In his first inaugural address, President Obama said that “those of us who manage the public’s dollars” will “do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.” And he issued a memo to all department and agency heads instructing them that “my administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.” But maybe the message hasn’t quite sunk in everywhere. read more ...
IRS hands over tax-exempt training materials to nonprofit publisher
From Accounting Web: The congressional committees investigating the Tea Party scandal – including the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Darrell Issa (R-CA) – aren't the only ones trying to get their hands on sensitive IRS documents. In response to a lawsuit initiated by Tax Analysts, a nonprofit publisher of tax information and expert analysis, the IRS has released almost 3,000 pages of training materials used by its Exempt Organizations (EO) division, most of them dating from 2012. read more ...
