FOI Advocate Blog

From NYTimes:

In a blow to Illinois' sweeping eavesdropping law, a federal appeals court on Tuesday blocked its enforcement in cases where someone is recording a police officer at work.

It was a victory for activists who had feared that using smartphones or video cameras to record police responding to demonstrations during this month's NATO summit in Chicago could land protesters and bloggers behind bars for years. It's also the most serious legal challenge to the measure — one of the strictest in the nation — and adds momentum to efforts by some state lawmakers to overhaul the legislation, whose constitutionality has been questioned..

From ProPublica:

From intrusive pat-downs to body scans to perceived profiling, the Transportation Security Administration always seems to be the target of complaints.

Here's another one: It took the TSA almost four years to tell me what people complained about — in 2008.

From Oswego Patch:

The Oswego School District 308 Board heard from upset parents Thursday night over what some say are recent violations of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

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:

NARA Survey Shows Continued Govt-wide Records Mis-Management

The May 1 release of an annual report by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), based on surveys agencies filled out about their record keeping practices, shows how much more work needs to be done before we can say with any certainty that the government is not at risk of losing potentially important records.

Visit OpenTheGovernment.org for the rest.

Ohio legislature intends to preserve accessibility to public records

I was disappointed to read the Rep editorial “JobsOhio bill is raising red flag” (April 27). As the state representative of this area, as well as the sponsor of House Bill 489, I can be a good source of information when misunderstandings such as this arise.

Visit CantonRep.com for the rest.

Utah names open records ombudsman

The state of Utah has named a GRAMA ombudsman to serve as an intermediary between the public and the state when dealing with government record requests.

Visit Daily Herald for the rest.

Chicago open records advocates fear information roadblocks

The state Office of Information Practices hopes a bill that would grant government agencies a new right to appeal open records decisions in court would give its orders more legal clout, yet open government advocates warn that it would delay public access to information.

Visit Chicago Tribune for the rest.

Chicago Police Sought Assistance From DHS On Occupy Chicago

Less than a month after Occupy Chicago faced two rounds of arrests for attempting to create its own encampment in Grant Park last year, Chicago Police sent a request for information to the Department of Homeland Security to see how other cities dealt with the movement. Documents released via a Freedom of Information Act request to Truthout show on Nov. 9, CPD was interested in contacting law enforcement in New York, Oakland, Washington D.C., Portland, Seattle, Boston and Denver to obtain information on Occupy movements

Visit Chicagoist.com for the rest.

4 frequent FOIA-ers led to new city hire

Repeated Freedom of Information Act requests filed by just four parties may have contributed to the planned hiring of a new deputy city clerk, who will earn $17,500 for a year of part-time work. During the April 10 city council meeting, city clerk Rodney Greene presented a graph showing four anonymous requesters and the number of FOIA requests they had each filed in 2011 and 2012. The most frequent requester filed 18 FOIAs in that time period.

Visit The Daily Northwestern for the rest.

State Ports Authority thwarts efforts to pry info loose

The Post and Courier’s recent series on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) highlighted one of the most important, and least appreciated, characteristics of a free society — the ability ordinary citizens should have to learn, without filters, what government is doing for them and, potentially, to them. Reinforcing The Post and Courier’s findings, the State Integrity Assessment, a project of Public Radio International, the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity, gave South Carolina an “F” for government transparency.

Visit The Post and Courier for the rest.

Consumer Watchdog Files FOIA Request Seeking All Documents In FCC's Investigation Of Google Wi-Spy Scandal

SANTA MONICA—Consumer Watchdog today filed a Freedom of Information Act Request with the Federal Communications Commission seeking all documents related to the Commission's investigation of the Google Wi-Spy scandal.

Visit Market Watch for the rest.

Mayor orders camera off at council meeting

Meetings of the Cumming City Council rarely make the evening news, but that changed last week with video of a woman being tossed out of the public gathering.

Visit Politifact for the rest.

From Woodbury Bulletin:

The South Washington County School Board violated state law in its handling of Superintendent Mark Porter’s final performance evaluation, according to a state opinion.

The nonbinding opinion sought by the South Washington County Bulletin concluded that the District 833 School Board violated the state’s Open Meeting Law when it did not publicly summarize its evaluation of Porter at a meeting immediately following the closed-door workshop used to conduct that evaluation.