Open Data Roundtable meetings have begun, a step in the partnership of government agencies with industry to ensure that the data sets the government publishes directly benefit the economy.
[…]
Read More… from Open Data Roundtables Set Out To Make Data Accessible To Benefit Economy
According to the City of Ann Arbor’s log of FOIA requests submitted between January 2013 and May 2014 519 FOIA requests were submitted to the Ann Arbor City Clerk’s office. Thirty-three of the 519 requests came from The Ann Arbor News and the online news site AnnArborChronicle.com. The A2Indy, launched in October 2013, filed five requests. The Ann Arbor Observer filed no FOIA requests. Fewer than a dozen FOIA requests came from local bloggers. Former Annarbor.com lead blogger Ed Vielmetti is one of those local writers.
[…]
Every morning, the first waking task most humans perform is checking email or the latest updates on their social media accounts. For developers, that initial daily fix is GitHub, the social coding platform that has captured the hearts of millions of hackers and tech enthusiasts around the world.
[…]
Read More… from GitHub: A Swiss Army knife for open government
As part of its regular social media routine, the District of Columbia Council’s official Twitter feed periodically links to obscure or odd provisions of the D.C. Code, like rules governing jostling rights: “Jostle away, but only if a breach of the peace may NOT be occasioned,” the Council’s Twitter feed informed its followers in June.
[…]
Read More… from The Ultimate in Open Government: Unlocking the Laws
A friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago about my libertarian opinion on these committees that were recently passed by the Rio Rancho Governing Body. It was said that the committees were created in the name of open government between the city and the public, and they offer protection from rolling quorums. It was also said that these committees add a layer of bureaucracy while offering only the illusion of protection.
[…]
Read More… from KERRY ADAMS: City committees, in effect, limit government
When the Carmel City Council voted to fire the director of its redevelopment commission last year, he simply kept on working. Why the longtime consultant, Les Olds, felt he had the authority to do so is unclear. Whatever the reason, months later he submitted a bill for $34,000 — and under the council’s direction, the city clerk-treasurer refused to pay.
[…]
Read More… from Open government? Carmel (IN) group blurs the line
One of the standard criticisms of Edward Snowden is that he should have tried harder to air his concerns via proper channels. This is fairly laughable on its face, since even now the NSA insists that all its programs were legal and it continues to fight efforts to change them or release any information about them. Still, maybe Snowden should have tried. What harm could it have done?
[…]
Read More… from Here’s What Happens When You Challenge the CIA Through “Proper Channels”
A St. Clair County judge dismissed part of a lawsuit seeking to remove East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks from office but could fine the city for allegedly violating state Sunshine laws.
The legal fight began in May 2013 when Matt Hawkins, president of watchdog group Civic Alliance of East St. Louis, filed a lawsuit against city leaders alleging violations of the state’s Freedom of Information Act and a state law dictating the administration of tax increment financing districts.
[…]
Aaron Swartz was a programmer, a hacker, a freedom of information activist — and a casualty of suicide. Before he turned 20, Swartz had made a fortune for his work on the social news website Reddit. He also was instrumental in founding the nonprofit Creative Commons, and later worked on the successful campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act that was taken up by Congress in 2012.
[…]
Read More… from The Life And Death Of ‘The Internet’s Own Boy’
How citizens access public information may change in Simpsonville. City officials are drafting a Freedom of Information policy to create a standardized process for handling FOI requests, but some provisions in the draft policy’s current form have raised concerns by specialists in public information access.
[…]
Read More… from Simpsonville (S.C.) reviewing FOI draft policy
