Body cameras will soon be standard operating equipment for all police officers in Connecticut, according to a group of law enforcement and freedom of information experts who participated in a recent Southern Connecticut State University forum.
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A new bill introduced Thursday would give a legislative basis to a number of open data initiatives already underway in the federal government under executive order.
The Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, introduced by Reps. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, would build upon a number open data policies from the Obama administration that push federal agencies to make as much data as possible free for the public to use.
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Read More… from Congress wants to turn Obama’s open data actions into law
Florida government agencies that lose lawsuits filed by people seeking access to public records will have to pay plaintiffs’ attorney fees, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a Jacksonville-based case.
And it doesn’t matter if the agency didn’t know it was breaking Florida’s public records laws when it denied or limited access to records, the court ruled.
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Read More… from Florida Supreme Court: Board must pay in public records case
Washington state lawmakers took a positive step this spring toward making sure public business is conducted in the open.
The state’s Open Public Meetings Act sets strict standards for the governing bodies of public agencies. With only narrow exceptions, discussions and decisions by public agencies must be open to the public.
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Over the past several years, efforts have been made to remove identifiers from public records due to concerns over identity theft.
Many federal, state and local public agencies and courts are actively considering whether to remove or redact identifiers from public records and documents.
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Read More… from Op-ed: Removing birthdate from Iowa court records could have unintended consequences
Kevin Hemstock, the longtime editor of the Kent County News, took his paper’s watchdog role literally.
From his office in downtown Chestertown, Maryland, he had a sweeping view of High Street, the main thoroughfare. One February day in 2010, he looked out his window, saw the three council members from the nearby town of Millington entering a lawyer’s office, and immediately sensed trouble.
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Read More… from As local coverage wanes, residents become self-taught watchdogs
President Barack Obama promised to run the most open administration in history. His White House website still declares: “My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.” But the agencies under the president have fallen far short of that pledge.
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Read More… from Editorial: Sen. Reid keeps transparency on hold
After a bill requiring state courts to abide by open records laws died last week, a prominent officer of the court said the ballot box might be the only solution to judges exempting themselves from transparency laws.
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Read More… from A new option to force the Colorado judicial branch to abide by open records laws?
An encrypted messaging app that allows users to delete their texts automatically after just a few seconds has become a favored way of communicating among some San Francisco supervisors and their aides, raising questions about whether technological advances are subverting public-records laws.
The app, Telegram, was created by a Russian entrepreneur and claims to be 100 percent encrypted. It is one of several apps, including Snapchat, Wickr and Frankly, that offer self-destructing messages.
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Read More… from San Francisco supervisors using messaging app that lets texts vanish
A bill allowing public school athletic departments in Georgia to have increased time to respond to open records requests was signed into law by governor Nathan Deal on Monday.
The law, which impacts the University of Georgia, provides up to 90 business days to respond to open records requests, as opposed to the three business days that were previously granted. The reported reason for the amendment concerns requests for recruiting information.
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Read More… from Georgia passes new open records law impacting public school athletics
