NSA says it can’t search its own emails
From ProPublica: The NSA is a "supercomputing powerhouse" with machines so powerful their speed is measured in thousands of trillions of operations per second. The agency turns its giant machine brains to the task of sifting through unimaginably large troves of data its surveillance programs capture. read more ...
Justice Department told not to delay Aaron Swartz FOIA
From The Blog of Legal Times: A federal trial judge in Washington [July 23] urged the government to continue reviewing thousands of pages of documents that could be released in a public records lawsuit seeking information from the Secret Servic ...
Burlington Free Press reporter wins national award from SPJ
From Burlington Free Press: Mike Donoghue, a reporter with the Burlington Free Press, has won a Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. “The Society’s Sunshine Award recognizes those making important contribut ...
Government Public Affairs Offices: More Hindrance Than Help?
From The National Press Club: A National Press Club panel will convene on Aug. 12 to debate federal public-affairs practices that some say can cut the public off from its affairs. Although executive branch communications offices can be useful ...
Kansas officials learn about open meetings and open records
From Garden City Telegram: About two dozen people, mostly local government officials, attended the first of five regional training sessions designed as a primer on the Kansas Open Meetings Act and the Kansas Open Records Act. The seminar was he ...
Judge dismisses public records suit filed against Carolinas Healthcare System
From CharlotteObserver.com: A judge has dismissed a lawsuit contending that one of the nation’s largest public hospital chains, Carolinas HealthCare System, violated the state public records law. In an order signed Monday, Superior Cour ...
OGIS helps to resolve three-year old FOIA request
From Matt Ehling, Public Record Media, via Twin Cities Daily Planet: In keeping with our mission, PRM aspires to be a comprehensive requester of public records. We not only submit a wide variety of data requests to government agencies, but we a ...
Appellate panel rules in favor of The Advocate in public records suit
From The Advocate — Baton Rouge, LA: A panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge provided no safe haven Friday for the LSU system’s efforts to keep secret records of its search for a new president. That search end ...
Pennsylvania lawmakers consider tweaking open government records law
From NewsWorks: The 5-year-old Right-to-Know law could be in for some major tweaks. Office of Open Records Director Terry Mutchler says she's concerned that the approach taken by the House could compromise Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know law in the spirit of improving it. read more ...
Opinion: Push in Sacramento to seal pension data based on false premises
Opinion from Terry Francke, general counsel of Californians Aware, via San Jose Mercury News: Recent press reporting suggests that legislators in Sacramento, pressured by state employee unions and retiree associations, may be considering amending the California Public Records Act to exempt from public disclosure the names of CalPERS pensioners linked to their retirement payments -- information that's been open to public scrutiny for the past 28 years. read more ...
