FOI Advocate Blog

Sunshine Week 2012 Events

Events around the country have been posted and we encourage you to not only add yours to the list, but also send photos, links, PDFs and other coverage. Federal, state and local lawmakers, as well as open government experts have contributed opinion columns on topics relevant to Sunshine Week. Editorial cartoons donated by the artists can be used by anyone for free in relation to their Sunshine Week coverage. Also posted is an infographic created by McClatchy-Tribune Graphics for anyone to use March 11-17.

Visit Sunshine Week for the rest.

Are you a 'Ray of Sunshine'?

The popular Sunshine Week Ray of Sunshine game is back with all-new questions for 2012. Take the quiz and wear the victory badge on your own site and Facebook page. You also can use the game button in your own pages with a link to the game to encourage others to test their open government knowledge.

Visit Sunshine Week for the rest.

Who is buying elections?

Welcome to a new era of exponentially more unlimited and undisclosed campaign spending. This is the first presidential election since game-changing rulings by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and a federal district court in SpeechNow.org v. FEC paved the way for a small group of elites to spend unprecedented sums — with little or no transparency — to influence voters. Since then, outside groups often called “super PACs” have proliferated, stimulating new ways for big donors to influence elections — often in secret.

Visit B.R. Hook for the rest.

Arkansas AG, journalists urge court to uphold FOI, reverse judge’s ruling

The state Supreme Court today granted requests from Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and two journalists’ organizations to submit briefs in support of a challenge to a ruling that portions of Arkansas’ open government law are unconstitutional. McDaniel, the Arkansas Press Association and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argue in their briefs that a Sebastian County Circuit judge erred in the ruling he made in a lawsuit alleging the city of Fort Smith violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

Visit Arkansas News for the rest.

Former Wisconsin supervisor honored for openness effort

A Wisconsin village president who resigned his county board seat rather than stay silent about an open records issue was one of several people honored Thursday by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council. Hilbert Village President Ken Stenklyft was one of eight winners in six categories of the council's Openness Awards, or Opees. The winners were announced ahead of Sunshine Week, an annual national effort to draw attention to the public's right to know that begins Sunday.

Visit wisconsinrapidstribune.com for the rest.

Mayor unveils San Francisco open data cloud

Mayor Lee unveiled data.SFgov.org, a cloud-based open data site and the successor/replacement to DataSF.org. The city is adopting cloud services, “social citizen interfaces,” and APIs to power its new open data site, all in an effort to provide a more robust, technologically sound infrastructure that can drive innovation, access to information, engagement, and government efficiency.

Visit TechCrunch for the rest.

CIA claims that torture technique is an "intelligence method" exempted from FOIA

The CIA’s characterization of torture as an “intelligence method” is shameful, and at bottom it is simply another effort to prevent the public from learning the full scope of the torture program. We know from documents the government has already released that the CIA’s use of waterboarding violated even the minimal guidelines established by its legal memos. The Obama administration should fulfill its commitment to transparency and release these additional documents.

Visit ACLU Blog of Rights for the rest.

A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier:

"Why I'm Suing the FBI, the DoD and the CIA"

Over the past year, I've filed dozens of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the FBI, CIA, Department of Defense, and other government agencies in hopes of prying loose documents I need to support my investigative reporting efforts on a wide-range of issues and policies.

One of the frustrating realities about the FOIA process is the enormous backlog of requests government agencies have to contend with, which means many months or years could pass before my request is finally processed and I receive a response. However, a little-known FOIA provision allows requesters to seek an estimated date of completion from government agencies on their FOIA requests...

Visit TruthOut for the rest.

Cybersecurity Bill Threatens Public Access to Information, Accountability

Yesterday organizations concerned with open government and accountability released a letter expressing their concern with several sections of the recently-introduced Cybersecurity Act of 2012 and urging the Senate to delay voting on the bill until the issues have been carefully and thoroughly reviewed.

The letter cites provisions in the bill that create unnecessary, overbroad and unwise limitations to access of information, including broad exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and jeopardize the rights of whistleblowers.

Visit OpenTheGovernment.org for the rest.

Arkansas Police use of force records subject to FOI

Police records regarding the use of force by an officer are not exempt from the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, the state Supreme Court said today in a ruling hailed as a victory for open government.

The high court affirmed a circuit judge’s ruling that the Little Rock Police Department could not refuse to release its use-of-force reports requested under the FOI law. The reports were requested by an attorney for Chris Erwin, who was struck several times by Little Rock police Lt. David Hudson during an arrest outside a Little Rock restaurant on Oct. 29.

Visit Arkansas News for the rest.

EPA, Commerce take lead in developing "FOIA Portal"

A buzz is growing in the federal Freedom of Information community about a new $1.3 million “FOIA Portal” under development and slated for launch this fall. Thursday we got a chance to look under the hood a bit, as part of a group organized by the Office of Government of Information Services.

Visit Investigative Reporting Workshop for the rest.

Conn. high court rules university can withhold trade secrets

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in University of Connecticut v. Freedom of Information Commission that a public entity could invoke the trade secret exemption in the state freedom of information act to shield its own records from being released.

Visit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for the rest.

FOI requests trigger DOT investigation

Outside investigators will conduct a probe of the planning, real estate and record-keeping practices of the Delaware Department of Transportation as a result of new signs of poor document security and unexplained gaps in key files potentially involving millions in taxpayer dollars.

The investigation was triggered by a series of Freedom of Information Act requests filed by The News Journal in recent months involving agency land deals and the involvement of political figures in certain highway projects that affect commercial interests.

Visit Delaware Online for the rest.

A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier:

South Dakota GOP official joins with Democrats to support open government

PIERRE — The Republican governor’s chief of staff and a Democratic leader in the Legislature agree that public bodies should be allowed to keep minutes during closed-door meetings, but some Republican legislative leaders oppose the idea. ... uring a later meeting of his own with the newspaper officials, Dusty Johnson, chief of staff for Gov. Dennis Daugaard and a Mitchell resident, said he personally likes the idea even though he could not recall if the Daugaard administration has taken an official position on it.

Visit The Daily Republic for the rest.

A hard look at what open government means for the Department of Energy

Every government agency got on the Internet in a different way. Often times, individuals decided that they'd take their little corner of the world online. Hundreds of different ways of presenting government information to the public sprang up. Sometimes these websites were terrible, but other times, they were wonderful, or at least happened to contain vital documents that could be found nowhere else. Now, though, government agencies know that they *have* to be online, which means they need A Policy. Not only that, they need a plan to deal with the wild legacy infrastructure that preceded the era of The Policy.

Visit The Atlantic for the rest.

Under Obama, the Freedom of Information Act still in shackles

Three years ago this past weekend, on his first full day in office, President Barack Obama issued his now infamous memo on transparency and open government, which was supposed to fulfill his campaign promise to lead the “most transparent administration in history.” Instead, his administration has been just as secretive—if not more so—than his predecessors, and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) has become the prime example of his administration’s lack of progress.

Visit Electronic Frontier Foundation for the rest.

Audit raises safety concerns about Atlanta transit system

ATLANTA — A federal audit of Atlanta's public transit system has raised several safety concerns about equipment, a near-miss involving a train and the death of a man whose clothing became caught in an escalator. WSB-TV and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the previously unreleased audit of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority this month through the Freedom of Information Act.

Visit The Republic for the rest.

Immigration authorities locked 13,000 in limbo

On a single day this past fall, the United States government held 13,185 people in immigration detention who had not been convicted of a crime, some of whom will not be charged with one, according to information The Huffington Post obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Instead, at a cost of roughly 2 million taxpayer dollars per day, the men and women were detained while immigration authorities sorted out their fates.

Visit Huffington Post for the rest.

Michael Moore joins Partnership for Civil Justice Fund in FOIA request

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) announced today that it is being joined by award-winning filmmaker and author Michael Moore in the Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA) demands to federal and local law enforcement agencies seeking public disclosure of documents and information concerning their involvement in the coordinated crackdown on Occupy encampments across the nation.

Visit Justice Online for the rest.

No extra part-timer to handle FOIA requests in Roscoe, IL

Village trustees briefly considered adding a part-time position to handle a recent surge of Freedom of Information Act requests, but quickly dismissed the idea at a Thursday committee meeting. The village has received 10 FOIA requests this month for 86 documents. Village Hall’s FOIA officer, Linda Day, has spent 54 hours responding to the requests this month.Village trustees briefly considered adding a part-time position to handle a recent surge of Freedom of Information Act requests, but quickly dismissed the idea at a Thursday committee meeting.

Visit Rockford Register Star for the rest.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to previously:

Hospital errors could become public under proposed new Missouri rules

A spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association said the proposed change could eventually make those adverse events involving Medicaid patients more transparent. The agency that oversees Missouri's Medicaid program, the Department of Social Services, is subject to public records requests. Information about the adverse events is in billing data that the hospital submits.

Visit News-leader.com for the rest.

Numerous explosive finds in Wu-Tang clan member Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s FBI files

The FBI recently released their file on the late rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard—of Wu-Tang Clan fame—thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, and it’s a doozy. The FBI alleges the Wu-Tang Clan was connected to various murders, drug deals, the Bloods gang, and other nefarious dealings.

Visit The Daily Beast for the rest.

New bill would put taxpayer-funded science behind pay walls

Right now, if you want to read the published results of the biomedical research that your own tax dollars paid for, all you have to do is visit the digital archive of the National Institutes of Health. There you’ll find thousands of articles on the latest discoveries in medicine and disease, all free of charge. A new bill in Congress wants to make you pay for that, thank you very much.

Visit ProPublica for the rest.

Maine governor seeks to exempt working papers from Freedom of Access Act

If you search "freedom of information" on the Maine state government's Web site, it will lead you to a page about the Freedom of Access Act, or FOAA. There, it says that the public's right to information about government activities lies at the heart of a democratic government. When Gov. Paul LePage was a candidate, he pledged to have an open and transparent government. But now he wants to exempt his working papers from FOAA.

Visit Maine Public Broadcasting Network for the rest.

Massachusetts to school committee: Announce release of meeting minutes

The state Attorney General's Office reminded the Melrose School Committee last summer that when executive session minutes are released, the committee must announce their availability, according to a letter released this week by the state. The letter closes an Open Meeting Law complaint filed with the Attorney General Office's Division of Open Government by resident Maryan Hollis, a regular attendee of School Committee meetings.

Visit Melrose, MA Patch for the rest.

Florida bill would require public comment at meetings

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida’s citizens would get the right to be heard on public issues, not just be seen, at meetings of local government and state executive branch bodies under a bill that cleared a Senate subcommittee Wednesday. The measure (SB 206) was filed in response to a pair of appellate court rulings that noted Florida’s open government “Sunshine Law” requires officials to meet in public but does not give citizens a right to speak at those meetings.

Visit Bradenton Herald for the rest.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Below, a few items selected from many of interest that we might not have drawn attention to earlier:

#gov20 2011 Year in Review

By most accounts, the biggest stories of 2011 were the Arab Spring, the historic earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the death of Osama Bin Laden. In each case, an increasingly networked world experienced those events together through the growing number of screens. At the beginning of the year, a Pew Internet survey emphasized the Internet's importance in civil society. By year's end, more people were connected than ever before.

Time magazine named 2011 the year of the protester, as apt a choice as "You" was in 2006. "No one could have known that when a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire in a public square, it would incite protests that would topple dictators and start a global wave of dissent," noted Time. "In 2011, protesters didn't just voice their complaints; they changed the world."

Visit O'Reilly Radar for the rest.

Philadelphia Open Government 2011 Year in Review

The time of year-end reviews and top 10 lists is now upon us, so I’m compiling the details of a watershed year for open data and civic hacking in two cities where I’ve seen huge leaps made in 2011 – Philadelphia and Baltimore.

In this first installment, I’ll focus on the “City of Brotherly Love” and highlight some of the events and developments of the past year that made it such a special one for the open government movement there. In the next installment, I’ll do the same for “Charm City.”

Visit govfresh for the rest.

Oakland City Hall gadfly Sanjiv Handa has died

Sanjiv Handa, a City Hall gadfly for more than 20 years who hammered city leaders on open government and regularly spoke on every item at City Council meetings, was found dead in a home near Piedmont Avenue on Tuesday. He was 55.

[...]

As sole proprietor of his subscription email newsletter, the East Bay News Service, Handa prided himself on holding elected officials accountable and strictly obeying the anti-secrecy mandates in government law.

Visit MercuryNews.com for the rest.