tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377352552024-03-14T10:26:47.238-05:00The FOI AdvocateThis formerly was the official blog of the <a href="http://nfoic.org/">National Freedom of Information Coalition</a>; the current incarnation can be found at <a href="http://nfoic.org/blog">http://nfoic.org/blog</a>, so please look for us there. NFOIC is a coalition of state groups dedicated to open government, headquartered at the <a href="http://journalism.missouri.edu">Missouri School of Journalism</a>.National Freedom of Information Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07987084587838968158noreply@blogger.comBlogger1619125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-54139591854092826662011-07-21T10:59:00.003-05:002011-07-21T11:03:28.419-05:00FOI Advocate Blog has movedHello, everyone.We at NFOIC just wanted to inform you that the FOI Advocate has moved and now has a new address.You can find us at http://www.nfoic.org/blog.We've enjoyed our time at Blogger, but we're going to try it out on our new site at http://www.nfoic.org/.Stop by and see us.Thanks.NFOIC Mgmt.FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-30684008637918527762011-05-04T14:35:00.001-05:002011-05-04T14:40:50.173-05:00Former DOJ official: Obama could be forced to release the Osama death photosfrom Gawker: Barack Obama has finally decided against releasing a photo of Osama bin Laden's corpse as proof of his death. But the former chief freedom of information expert for the U.S. government tells Gawker that he may not have that choice.Up until a few moments ago, when CBS News reported Obama's decision, the Administration had issued mixed signals on whether it intended to release graphic FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-79384447186962070702011-04-26T11:33:00.001-05:002011-04-26T11:36:20.044-05:00WikiLeaks: Guantanamo Bay terrorist secrets revealedfrom The Telegraph: Al-Qaeda terrorists have threatened to unleash a “nuclear hellstorm” on the West if Osama Bin Laden is caught or assassinated, according to documents to be released by the WikiLeaks website, which contain details of the interrogations of more than 700 Guantanamo detainees.However, the shocking human cost of obtaining this intelligence is also exposed with dozens of innocent FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-58436777832180087582011-04-07T15:10:00.002-05:002011-04-07T15:22:14.619-05:00Report: After Michigan FOIAs, Wayne State takes down labor studies websitefrom TalkingPointsMemo: [...]As Wayne State University considers what to do about the Freedom Of Information Act requests Mackinac sent over last month, lawyers at the school have ordered parts of the Labor Studies Center website shut down over concerns from Mackinac that they violate rules against political advocacy with state resources.The Michigan Information and Research Service News Service FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-22569058235246829562011-04-07T14:58:00.003-05:002011-04-07T15:10:48.829-05:00National security: When secrecy is a weaponfrom The Bellingham Herald: In a recent interview with Newsweek magazine, former CIA lawyer John Rizzo spoke with surprising candor about the CIA's "targeted killing" program. He discussed the scope of the program (about 30 people are on the "hit list" at any given time), the process by which the CIA selects its targets (Rizzo was "the one who signed off") and the methods the CIA uses to FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-56437807841525186812011-04-06T15:26:00.001-05:002011-04-06T15:29:20.934-05:00Open-gov sites likely to stay online under new CR fundingfrom ExecutiveGov: The latest proposal for a continuing resolution to come out of the House Appropriations Committee includes $17 million for the Office of Management and Budget’s E-Government program, which administers funds for open-government sites, Federal News Radio reports.However, while a marked increase from the $2 million previously proposed, it is still a far cry from the $35 million FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-4621752088473314312011-04-06T15:21:00.002-05:002011-04-06T15:26:11.349-05:00MSU labor prof says university will comply with FOIAfrom The Michigan Messenger: When the Mackinac Center’s requested emails from the labor programs at Wayne State and the University of Michigan, John Beck, Associate Professor and Director of the Labor Education Program at Michigan State University, says his phone started ringing off the hook.The media, both local and national, wanted to know about Michigan State University’s request from the FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-81438328484349666652011-04-06T15:17:00.003-05:002011-04-06T15:21:47.674-05:00Court orders Chestertown Fire to address FOIL requestsfrom the North Country Gazette: CHESTERTOWN, NY —-The Chestertown Volunteer Fire Company has been ordered to show cause why they shouldn’t answer outstanding Freedom of Information Law requests that sought copies of fire company minutes, run sheets, raffle proceeds and other financial information pertaining to fire company operations.They’ve also been ordered to show cause why they shouldn’t haveFOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-90865265255008093482011-04-05T15:22:00.003-05:002011-04-05T15:25:54.024-05:00A Semantic Web Founding Father Explains Why Americans Should Care About Keeping Open Government Data Alivefrom semanticweb.com: There’s still no official word on how much peril open government data initiatives such as Data.gov may be in. And perhaps to many Americans, the hand-wringing they’ve heard about funding cuts in this area seem trivial when the country is looking at the U.S. public debt nearing its statutory ceiling of about $14.3 trillion. After all, what’s the real applicability of FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-46304291205645256342011-04-05T15:17:00.002-05:002011-04-05T15:21:58.277-05:00'Open' government vow may be undone by red inkfrom SFGate.com: Remember President Obama's vow, in his inaugural speech, to usher in an era of "open and transparent" government?It's taken a couple of hits of late.A White House award ceremony last week honoring his "commitment to transparency" was closed to the press, to the surprise and chagrin of the open government organizations that had joined together to present the award. One of the FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-62049014133123595942011-04-05T15:13:00.001-05:002011-04-05T15:16:56.145-05:00Assessing Illinois' new open records law: frustration, delaysfrom the Chicago Tribune: Frustration from city officials throughout Illinois about an avalanche of records requests – including some they argue are motivated by petty agendas – has prompted dozens of new bills to scale back a new open records law enacted last year. Backed by municipal government lobbyists and opposed by open-records advocates, the proposals would limit the rights of repeat FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-91337583737432768302011-03-24T15:07:00.002-05:002011-03-24T15:10:29.317-05:00Sunshine Week news from the statesSunshine Week Shame: 10 Ways the Government Is Opaquefrom Wired.comAs Sunshine Week sets, it's a good time to take a quick inventory of the federal government's ongoing failures of transparency. ...District spends more than $30,000 on out-of-district travel this yearfrom The Kansan.comNEWTON — Editor’s note: This story is part of the Kansan’s coverage for Sunshine Week, which is an event that FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-136216218601473302011-03-16T09:44:00.002-05:002011-03-16T09:56:49.273-05:00Sunshine Week at Work in the Statesfrom NFOIC:Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public's right to know.Sunshine Week as a national effort is spearheaded by the American Society of News Editors. The key funder has been the John S. FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-31126699906755988652011-03-11T10:45:00.002-06:002011-03-11T10:51:11.192-06:00Sunshine Week: The forecast is mostly cloudyfrom The Huffington Post: COLUMBIA, Mo. (from Ken Bunting, executive director at NFOIC) -- Heading into "Sunshine Week," many open government advocates across the country feel they have much more to bemoan than they have to celebrate.Even if no court or attorney general ever chastises Wisconsin's Republican legislators for violating open meetings law notice requirements, the convoluted web of FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-4290963239323511162011-03-07T14:48:00.003-06:002011-03-07T14:52:20.195-06:00Reporters Committee lauds another win for openness in Supreme Courtfrom Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: Washington, D.C. — The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press lauded today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in another decision favorable to open government, this time ruling that the Navy’s use of a Freedom of Information Act exemption for records regarding internal agency personnel rules and practices was improperly invoked to deny the FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-43445197192518336962011-03-07T13:23:00.002-06:002011-03-07T13:32:56.824-06:00A dark day for Utah FOIfrom SPJ Blog Network: On Wednesday, the Utah House Public Utilities and Technology Committee gave its OK to a bill that essentially dismantles the 20-year-old Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). As The Salt Lake Tribune reports, the bill, House Bill 477, would strip the legislative intent statement from GRAMA, which states that privacy concerns would be balanced with the FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-23510850247121638982011-03-07T13:10:00.004-06:002011-03-07T13:20:15.119-06:00Isthmus, Wisconsin Associated Press sue Gov. Scott Walker over access to emailsfrom Isthmus/The Daily Page: Isthmus newspaper and the Wisconsin Associated Press today filed a lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker over his office's failure to respond to open records requests regarding emails received by his office."The governor said he had gotten more than 8,000 emails as of Feb. 17, with 'the majority' urging him to 'stay firm' on his budget repair bill," says Isthmus News FOI Advocatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17524292586705413018noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-29465729886295344732011-03-02T16:20:00.002-06:002011-03-02T16:25:16.631-06:00Does new Supreme Court decision in FOIA case stop Citizens United in its tracks?from CREW: The Supreme Court issued a decision in Fed. Communications Comm’n v. AT&T, holding the protection the Freedom of Information Act provides for “personal privacy” does not include corporations. AT&T was trying to prevent the disclosure of documents it had submitted to the FCC as part of an investigation, arguing their release would invade the corporation’s personal privacy. According toNational Freedom of Information Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07987084587838968158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-55943457221841067692011-03-02T16:16:00.003-06:002011-03-02T16:20:21.319-06:00A new 'toolkit' for opening up civic lifefrom techPresident: Citizens who believe their government is open and transparent are more likely to be satisfied with civic life, according to research released by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and the Monitor Institute.Accompanying that research is a set of materials drafted by the Monitor Institute, a for-profit think tank and consultancy hybrid, intended to help National Freedom of Information Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07987084587838968158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-88820600974482547142011-03-01T11:50:00.000-06:002011-03-01T11:52:48.808-06:00Court: No personal privacy for business in FOIAfrom Washington Post: WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that corporations have no right of personal privacy to prevent the disclosure of documents under the federal Freedom of Information Act.Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 8-0 opinion Tuesday that reversed an appeals court ruling in favor of AT&T. The outcome was notable for its unanimity, especially in view of recent criticismNational Freedom of Information Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07987084587838968158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-79789478587601887472011-03-01T11:08:00.002-06:002011-03-01T11:13:04.222-06:00Sensible strategies for open government and online hubsfrom KnightComm: The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation released two policy papers that call on community and elected leaders to adopt sensible strategies to expand government transparency, make public records and civic data more open and accessible to the public, and create local online hubs that provide maps for a community’s National Freedom of Information Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07987084587838968158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-11109608556318846632011-02-16T16:15:00.003-06:002011-02-16T16:23:57.463-06:00Spy Games: Inside the convoluted plot to bring down WikiLeaksfrom Wired: In November, when a major U.S. bank wanted a strategy for taking down WikiLeaks, [CEO of HBGary Federal Aaron] Barr immediately drafted a presentation in which he suggested “cyber attacks against the infrastructure to get data on document submitters. This would kill the project . . .”Faking documents seemed like a good idea, too, documents which could later be “called out” so as to National Freedom of Information Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07987084587838968158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-28134116304328974672011-02-16T16:07:00.002-06:002011-02-16T16:15:26.014-06:00Government contractors targeted Chamber of Commerce's criticsfrom the Los Angeles Times: Reporting from Washington — Hoping to win a lucrative agreement with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, three data security contractors for federal defense and intelligence agencies developed a proposal to monitor and manipulate the chamber's left-leaning critics, according to recently released e-mail correspondence.Employees of the firms compiled short dossiers on a few National Freedom of Information Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07987084587838968158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-14562867069055738562011-02-11T09:40:00.002-06:002011-02-11T09:47:31.490-06:00Firm targeting WikiLeaks cuts ties with HBGary - apologizes to reporterfrom The Tech Herald: -- Dr. Alex Karp, the Co-Founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, one of three data intelligence firms who worked to develop a systematic plan of attack against WikiLeaks and their supporters, has severed all ties with HBGary Federal and issued an apology to reporter Glenn Greenwald.[...]. . . The Tech Herald learned that Palantir Technologies, HBGary Federal, and Berico National Freedom of Information Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07987084587838968158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37735255.post-59750578527793252022011-02-08T14:51:00.004-06:002011-02-08T14:56:45.765-06:00Personal privacy and the right to knowfrom a New York Tmes editorial: -- For 45 years, the Freedom of Information of Act has invigorated American democracy by obliging the executive branch to make public a splendid range of documents. It serves the people’s right to know, while leaving out data whose disclosure could be harmful.The law’s “exemption 7,” about facts gathered for law enforcement, omits records whose release could be “anNational Freedom of Information Coalitionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07987084587838968158noreply@blogger.com0