National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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CA: Judge jails judicial reform advocate who discussed divorce online

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In a decision First Amendment experts have dubbed “outrageous,” a Contra Costa Superior Court judge jailed a San Ramon man for writing about his divorce on the internet — even though his writings were based on material publicly available in court files.

The judge, Bruce C. Mills, insisted in his decision that “matters that are put into court pleadings and brought up in oral argument before the court do not become public thereby” — a position that lawyers say fundamentally misunderstands the nature of court records.

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Anchorage Police Department participating in national police data initiative

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The Anchorage Police Department is joining 100 other police departments around the country to provide more data and information to their respective communities.

APD announced Friday it’s participating in the White House Police Data Initiative.

Lieutenant Jack Carson says the aim is to increase transparency within the Anchorage Police Department.

Continue…

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Half of U.S. Cabinet agencies fail to comply with Open Government Directive

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2,473 days after President Barack Obama issued an Open Government Directive, half of the 15 Cabinet agencies of the United States have not complied with the most basic aspect of the executive order: publishing an open government plan on their open website.

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Social media feud leads to public records fight in Miami Beach

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In a complaint filed last week, Stern says the mayor, Philip Levine, “employs … digital mediums including social media to communicate official business,” noting that the Twitter and Facebook accounts at issue identify him as mayor and are used for constituent engagement and informing city residents of important events (e.g., the Zika outbreak in Miami Beach). These accounts are separate from Levine’s personal and campaign ones.

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Louisiana: PAR Releases Guide to the 2016 Constitutional Amendments

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The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana released the PAR Guide to the 2016 Constitutional Amendments. The Guide explains the potential impact of the six constitutional amendments that the public will consider on the Nov. 8 ballot statewide. This objective review will help voters understand the issues and the potential changes so they may develop their own positions on each proposition. View here.

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Why Open Access Has To Look Up For Academic Publishing To Look Up

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In 2011, speaking impassionately to an audience at CERN – one of the world’s largest institutions for nuclear physics research, headquartered in Geneva – Lessig, a professor of law at Harvard Law School and a political activist, highlighted the crisis of access to scientific scholarship. Indeed, over the last six decades, public access to scholarly works has diminished. Works that can be freely searched and read represent only a sliver of the entire wealth of human knowledge.

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Connecticut: Fear of retribution cited for withholding officials’ identities from public

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Protecting the identity of current and past New Canaan officials who fear retribution or embarrassment in the community if their true opinions became known is a weightier public interest than letting the identities and opinions be known to the electorate. New Canaan Charter Revision Commission Chairman David Hunt and member Penny Young told a Connecticut Freedom of Information hearing officer on Tuesday that this was a primary reason for the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) withholding such information from the public.

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