From Patch.com: A legal battle in Illinois over a $20 parking ticket could potentially cost a Chicago suburb tens of millions of dollars — and fear that the case could have implications here is prompting many Milwaukee-area police departments to drastically clamp down on how much information they’re releasing to the public.
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Read More… from Police records no longer open in many communities
From World: Legal watchdog Judicial Watch has filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) demanding the U.S. Department of Defense turn over all records of communications between Pentagon officials and controversial anti-Christian activist Mikey Weinstein.
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Read More… from Watchdog digs for info on anti-Christian Pentagon lobbyist
From Chicago Tribune: (Reuters) – Wall Street’s industry-funded watchdog issued new guidance late Monday that gives arbitrators more information about their responsibilities in a process that allows securities brokers to request the removal of customer complaints from their public records.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued the guidance just days before a group of lawyers for investors plan to issue a report finding fault with the regulator’s system for clearing complaints from brokers’ records, a process known as “expungement.”
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Read More… from Wall Street watchdog signals new hurdles for clearing brokers’ records
From Journal Gazette: WASHINGTON – In the recent stream of disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance programs, one document, sources say, has been conspicuously absent: the original – and still classified – judicial interpretation that held that the bulk collection of Americans’ data was lawful.
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Read More… from Lawmakers, groups urge secret court to reveal papers justifying NSA records programs
From RT: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has turned over new documents detailing how the FBI collects cell phone location information about criminal suspects, but most of the secretive program will remain under wraps for now.
The latest trove of documents was published this week by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a DC-based public interest research group that specializes in issues involving surveillance and security.
Visit RT for more.
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Read More… from Declassified FBI files detail secret surveillance team
From McClatchyDC: A FOIA bid by the folks at the Electronic Privacy Information Center for documents held by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has fallen short.
In a 14-page decision, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg upheld the ODNI’s withholding of 21 documents. EPIC had requested “guidelines describing how the National Counterterrorism Center retrieves and safeguards information from other federal agencies.”
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From Property Casualty 360: The attorney work-product privilege is one of the three primary privileges incorporated into Exemption 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5). It protects materials prepared by an attorney or others in anticipation of litigation, ostensibly shielding materials that would disclose the attorney’s theory of the case or trial strategy. President Lyndon B. Johnson originally signed FOIA into law by on July 4, 1966 and it went into effect the following year.
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Read More… from Opinion: Are pre-denial claims communications admissable in court?
From MuckRock: A veritable FOIA frenzy ensued in 2013 following a series of leaks about NSA surveillance programs, recently released documents show.
From June 6 to September 4, the National Security Agency’s FOIA load increased 1,054 percent over its 2012 intake. In that three-month span, the agency received 3,382 public records requests. For comparison, the NSA received just 293 requests over the same period in 2012.
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Read More… from NSA inundated by FOIA requests after Snowden leaks
From Open Watch: For a very long time, the public has placed a tremendous amount of trust in the United States Postal Service. Even in 2013, the public voted USPS to be the most trusted Federal agency, and the fourth most-trusted company for privacy in the world. Because of their perceived respect for privacy, USPS is the go-to shipper of drugs used by Silk Road suppliers and customers, and even whistle-blowing organizations like Wikileaks have advised that “postal networks offer the strongest form of anonymity and are good for bulk truth-telling.”
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From Project on Government Oversight: With the government shutdown in full swing, you sort of expect these messages, but actually receiving them is still surreal:
“Out of Office Reply: Due to the government shutdown, OSC is currently closed. I will respond to your email message when OSC reopens. Thank you.”
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