National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

Author: NFOIC

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Wisconsin moving open government into the digital age

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Last month on this page, state Attorney General Brad Schimel called for updating the state's open government laws to meet the challenges of the digital age. He's exactly right. The laws were enacted long before the Internet came into being, let alone Facebook and Twitter, and they need to be updated — and strengthened to make sure that citizens in the digital age have the access to government that they need.

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U.S. releases report on NSA’s call collection program

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The Obama administration on Saturday unveiled a 6-year-old report examining a once-secret program to collect information on Americans’ calls and e-mails, as debate gears up over the coming expiration of a Bush-era surveillance law.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the redacted report following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the New York Times. The basics of the National Security Agency program had already been declassified, but the lengthy report includes some new details.

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Editorial: Ohio needs public records audits

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The ongoing assault by Ohio Republican lawmakers on public records laws and those who fight for citizen access to records shows no signs of slowing down.

House Republicans tried to use the state's two-year budget this month to shield themselves and state officials from new citizen-initiated records audits being conducted by Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, a Republican who refreshingly doesn't follow the party line 100 percent of the time.

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New York Times Gets Stellarwind IG Report Under FOIA

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The secrecy surrounding the National Security Agency’s post-9/11 warrantless surveillance and bulk data collection program hampered its effectiveness, and many members of the intelligence community later struggled to identify any specific terrorist attacks it thwarted, a newly declassified document shows.

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Clark Co. Park District’s Executive Director using Facebook to Intimidate FOIA Requesters

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This afternoon, Charity Murphy, the Executive Director of the Clark County Park District decided to use Facebook as a means to intimidate Freedom of Information Act requesters into submission through “peer pressure”.

This is a direct assault on citizens of this State with the full force and resources of a government body.

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Bill requiring more information from campus police passes Illinois House

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The Illinois House on Friday passed HB 3932, legislation that would require private campus police to release the same information as municipal police.

The bill — introduced in February by state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-25) and co-sponsored by state Rep. Christian Mitchell (D-26) — passed unanimously.

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Federal agencies fail freedom of information test by Syracuse University

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When it comes to providing information to the public, 14 out of 21 U.S. government agencies receive poor marks for responding to records requests, according to a study published online Friday by researchers at Syracuse University.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at SU asked for copies of the electronic files the federal agencies use to keep track of requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

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Editorial:Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono Should Continue to Resist Efforts to Weaken FOIA Law

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In an era where the government collects more information than ever before, the importance of maintaining public access to that information becomes a bigger concern with each passing year.

That point isn’t lost on U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono. Serving as a member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee — in her freshman term, it should be noted — she has paid particular attention to the Freedom of Information Act, the venerable 50-year-old law that requires the public disclosure of records held by the federal government.

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