National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

Author: NFOIC

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Posts by NFOIC

Names of police subject to internal affairs complaints are public records, judge rules

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The names of police officers who are subject to an internal affairs complaint, as well as the names of complainants, cannot be shielded from the public under the state Open Public Records Law, a state judge has ruled.

In the decision, handed down Thursday, state Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne in Bergen County found the Bergen County Sheriff's Office wrongly redacted the information in records provided to John Paff, a self-proclaimed open government activist.

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Public officials can submit anonymous comments on RiverPort

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The identity of a public official who submitted a public comment letter to the Charleston District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been concealed from public view, because otherwise it 'would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.'

That's according to the federal agency, which released a handful of documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request for materials generated from the public meeting on Hardeeville's RiverPort development.

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NFOIC FOI training project proposal receives grant from Knight Foundation

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Eighteen projects will each receive $35,000 in funding and time to test their media and information ideas as the latest recipients of grants from the Knight Prototype Fund.

The fund, which Knight launched in 2012, encourages the rapid iteration and testing of ideas while providing a support network for the creators. The recipients join a cohort of winners who get the opportunity to receive human-centered design training and to share ideas and concepts with other people experiencing similar opportunities and challenges.

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Interior’s Inspector General investigates a lot, shares little with public

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The Department of the Interior's inspector general closed 457 investigations last year — and released public reports for only three.

The rest largely stayed hidden from public view, with even a redacted list of closed investigations accessible only through the Freedom of Information Act. Among them were cases exposing nepotism, contracting violations and allegations that BP America underpaid its gas royalties by millions of dollars (see related story).

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Transparency issues cloud campaigns in governor’s race

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Transparency. Open government. Sunshine. Virtually every candidate for elected office embraces these themes while campaigning, promising to minimize government secrecy. It certainly was part of Republican Susana Martinez's successful campaign for governor in 2010. The same was true of Democrat Gary King's successful campaigns for attorney general in 2006 and 2010.

But both Martinez and King, now running against each other for governor, have had clouds over some of their sunshine efforts. Both have been sued for alleged violations of state public records laws.

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Ruling a victory for transparent government

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The Indiana Supreme Court's ruling that causes of death are public records and must be available at county levels is a decision worth applauding. That we, as The Tribune's Editorial Board, favor the ruling probably comes as no surprise. As journalists, we vigorously defend the concept of transparency in government. But the unanimous ruling released recently, which reversed the lower courtsí decisions, is one that is in the best interests of all Indiana residents.

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FBI Director: Don’t Trust Government, But Give It Your Data Without Transparency

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The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) director James Brien Comey, Jr. is one of the nation's top cops. But he's drawn the ire of civil liberty groups and citizen activists alike both over allegations of his agency's role in helping the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) spy on Americans and over his recent comments to the press that suggest it's "dangerous" for mobile firms to offer full-device encryption.

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ND University chancellor calls open records requests ‘politically motivated’

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Since 2010, the North Dakota University System has violated state open records and open meetings laws 17 times, according to records from the North Dakota Attorney General's office. Now Interim Chancellor Larry Skogen is crying foul on some of those requests, saying they're politically motivated.

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