The woman hired six years ago to oversee sweeping changes to Pennsylvania's open records law is waiting to see if she still has a job. More than three months since her six-year term expired as executive director of the Office of Open Records, Terry Mutchler doesn't know whether Gov. Tom Corbett will reappoint her to a second term.
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Read More… from Pennsylvania’s open records director sitting in limbo
Bozeman has joined the state of Montana’s open government push as the first city to publish local databases on a state website. The website, data.mt.gov, contains 36 datasets. It includes all public information about the facilities leased by the state and employee pay information, among other databases. Four datasets from the city of Bozeman include all building permits issued since 1996 and city zoning districts.
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Read More… from Montana, Bozeman launch online data portal for public information
More than 40 people attended a forum by Executive Director of the State Committee on Open Government Robert Freeman Thursday, July 31. During the meeting, Freeman briefly explained the intricacies of the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) as well as the Open Meetings Law, answering many questions from the crowd relating to situations they have witnessed in local governments. The meeting was held at the Tyrone Fire Hall and was sponsored by resident Alan Hurley, Friends of Tyrone, SCOPE and the Odessa Tea Party.
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Read More… from Director of the State Committee on Open Government (NY) holds forum on FOIL
A member of the Olympia Planning Commission was recognized for taking a stance on open public meetings, but not everyone applauded.
Judy Bardin received a Key Award from the Washington Coalition for Open Government, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that defends open-government laws. She was honored for blowing the whistle on a series of private meetings between other commissioners and developers. But the award drew stinging comments from her fellow commissioners, who defended the meetings as legal and said they felt maligned by her “false accusations.”
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A new court of appeal ruling could make it easier for journalists to request data under the UK Freedom of Information Act in a specific file format.
The decision relates to a 2010 FoI request to Buckinghamshire County Council for information about the 11+ school entry exam to be supplied "in Excel format". When the council complied with the FoI request a month later, it supplied the applicant, Nick Innes, with 184 pages of data in PDF format instead.
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Read More… from UK Court rules FoI requests can specify file format
Two loaded and two empty crude oil trains operate daily over Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor in Maryland and Delaware, according a document submitted by the passenger railroad in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Last month, Norfolk Southern, the freight railroad that operates the crude oil trains, went to court in Maryland to block the state Department of the Environment from making the same information available to McClatchy and the Associated Press.
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Read More… from Amtrak provides crude oil train details states had withheld
Tax Analysts recently requested, under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, “copies of all field audit manuals and audit training manuals.” The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration sent back a misguided response. Revenue Legal Counsel Joel DiPippa, who wrote the letter denying Tax Analysts’ request, said Arkansas law limits the inspection and copying of public records to “any citizen of the State of Arkansas.” Neither the reporter who requested the audit manuals nor Tax Analysts is an Arkansas citizen.
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Read More… from Access To Public Records Isn’t A Fundamental Right — But It Should Be
The US Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has issued a lawsuit against the FBI, as it continues its push for more information about surveillance practices. EPIC has released a statement in which it explains that it has filed official papers in which it demands access to the results of internal FBI "privacy impact assessments".
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Read More… from EPIC sues the FBI over missing citizen-surveillance reports
One of my favorite TV shows in the ‘80s was the “People’s Court,” where average citizens argued small cases in front of feisty Judge Joseph Wapner. The show inspired an entire genre of quasi-real courtroom programs that continue to populate the airwaves today with the likes of Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Mathis and several others.
As for the “People’s Court,” I can still picture emcee Doug Llewelyn advising viewers not to take the law into their own hands. “You take ‘em to court,” he’d say.
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Rejoice, O lovers of privacy! For Open WhisperSystems has released Signal for iPhone, which gives any and every iPhone wielder the power to fully encrypt their calls against prying ears — and is completely compatible with OWS’s time-tested and well-liked RedPhone for Android.
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