NFOIC requests Google disable Gmail “self-destructing” feature for government communiqués

      News Release May 4, 2018 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Daniel Bevarly  (239) 823-1811 · dbevarly@nfoic.org   NFOIC requests Google disable Gmail “self-destructing” feature for government communiqués New feature undermines open government and records retention laws The National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) has contacted Google about Gmail’s new “self-destructing” email feature. The […]

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From $37 to $339,000: Why the Price of Public Records Requests Varies So Much

Local and state laws regarding what constitutes the public’s domain are about as uniform as a patchwork quilt. And technology — or a lack thereof — further contributes to the increasing cost variance between jurisdictions.

New IT software, for the governments that can afford it, has certainly sped up the time it takes to fulfill requests and thus lowered the price of information. But in some cases, technology can complicate matters. This issue is particularly heightened when privacy concerns require time-consuming redaction work.

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Straight Talk from Staffers on the Growing Congressional IT Crisis

Are you better off now than you were three years ago? If you work in the U.S. Congress, probably not. Your workload has skyrocketed, your job has only gotten more complex, and what you’re paid is peanuts, considering you do one of the most difficult and important jobs in the United States of America.

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Editorial: Open data grows in 2015 (but not enough)

As 2015 winds to a close, we can look back on a year of success stories and failures when it comes to transparency in government.

At the start of the year, the federal government began releasing its enterprise data inventories — comprehensive indexes of the data sets it collects — to the public. The move, which came in response to a Sunlight Foundation Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, was a major victory for government transparency.

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