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FOI Advocate Blog

The NFOIC open government blog is a compendium of original concepts and analysis as well as ideas, edited excerpts and materials from a variety of sources. When the information comes from another source, we will attribute it and provide a link. The blog relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited; we will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.

For Advocate posts prior to July, 2011, visit http://foiadvocate.blogspot.com/.
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Petition names go public in Wisconsin recall
February 2, 2012 4:36 PM

From Los Angeles Time Nation Now:

The Wisconsin recall petitions -- consisting of more than 1 million names asking to recall Gov. Scott Walker, the lieutenant governor and four state senators -- have been posted online by state election officials, even though signers raised questions about how the disclosures might affect their personal security.

The decision to make the names public, announced Tuesday, means that anyone will be able to see the petitions. By Wednesday morning, the petitions, which have signers' names and addresses and the date they signed, were already available in nonsearchable, PDF format.

Read More
elections, petition names public, privacy, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Records Law
The first two years of the Office of Government Information Services
February 2, 2012 3:21 PM

From Columbia Journalism Review:

For the past two years, OGIS has been trying to be a transparent, useful agency. In March 2011, it launched a handy FOIA blog, and according to a first-year report (PDF) published that same month, it has claimed overall success and positive outcomes in the majority of cases it handled. In its first year, the OGIS caseload consisted of 391 FOIA cases from forty different states. OGIS reported having aided 80 percent of requestors reach “agreement” with the government agency that was giving them trouble. By its second year, OGIS had helped over 1,200 requesters.

But today, many have never heard of OGIS, let alone used it to help with stuck or pending FOIA requests. “I don’t know of any experience with OGIS here,” Andrew Donohue, founder of the investigative website Voice of San Diego, told me via e-mail. Ryan Gabrielson, staff reporter for California Watch, said he’d never used them, either. Neither had Doug Longhini, an investigative producer at CBS News.

Read More
FOIA litigation, Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), open government, transparency
ACLU sues U.S. for information on targeted killing program
February 2, 2012 8:41 AM

From ACLU's Blog of Rights:

Today we filed a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act to demand that the government release basic — and accurate — information about the government’s targeted killing program.

Our government’s deliberate and premeditated killing of American terrorism suspects raises profound questions that ought to be the subject of public debate. Unfortunately the Obama administration has released very little information about the practice — its official position is that the targeted killing program is a state secret — and some of the information it has released has been misleading.

Read More
ACLU, CIA, Department of Defense, Department of Justice (DOJ), FOIA requests, national security, targeted killing
Open government experts to host Amarillo seminars
February 1, 2012 4:38 PM

From Amarillo Globe News:

Freedom of information experts are scheduled to visit Amarillo on Friday to host an open government seminar for elected officials and others who want to learn about public records.

“We think it’s a good opportunity; we haven’t been to Amarillo in several years,” said Keith Elkins, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas (FOIFT), a nonprofit organization that focuses on First Amendment issues.

Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas is a member of NFOIC. -- eds.

Read More
Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas (FOIFT), Texas, Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Public Information Act
Nonprofit watchdog group says FBI snoops on WikiLeaks supporters
February 1, 2012 4:29 PM

From Courthouse News Service:

WASHINGTON (CN) - A nonprofit government watchdog claims the FBI refuses to release information on "the government's identification and surveillance of individuals who have demonstrated support for or interest in WikiLeaks."

The Electronic Privacy Information Center sued the Department of Justice's Criminal Division and National Security Division, and the FBI, in a FOIA complaint in Federal Court.

Read More
Department of Justice (DOJ), EPIC, FBI, FOIA lawsuit, FOIA requests, WikiLeaks
State police loses appeal over postmark in case involving release of patrol car video
February 1, 2012 4:23 PM

From The Republic:

LANSING, Mich. — A dispute over patrol car video could be costly to Michigan State Police.

The state Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling in an unusual lawsuit involving the Freedom of Information Act. An Ionia County woman sued state police after they failed to turn over traffic stop video in a timely manner.

Read More
FOIA denial, FOIA postmark, Michigan, Michigan State Police, police video
Costly legal battle over FOIA complaint continues in Loudoun
February 1, 2012 4:17 PM

From The Washington Post's State of NoVa:

The legal bills will continue to add up in the costly courtroom battle between a local freelance journalist and the Loudoun County Board of Equalization, a case that began with a confrontation at a tax appeal hearing last summer and continued Monday with the testimony of Board of Equalization Chairman J. Scott Littner in Loudoun County District Court.

The details surrounding the encounter between Littner and freelance reporter Beverly Bradford at the June 28 meeting remain in dispute. What isn’t debatable is the fact that a single photograph that Bradford took during the meeting has spiraled into a multifaceted dispute costing Loudoun upward of $80,000 in legal fees — and sparked a power struggle between the Board of Equalization and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, which has refused to foot the bill for a case it wanted resolved out of court.

Read More
FOIA, FOIA litigation, FOIA requests, legal fees, Virginia
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