National Freedom of Information Coalition
Protecting Your Right to Open Government

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Posts by NFOIC

42 Mingo County (WV) employees have county-owned vehicles

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Forty-two Mingo County (pop. 26,103) employees drive vehicles that are owned by the county, according to information resulting from one in a series of Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the Daily News.

After being required to file an FOIA request to receive the hourly salaries of all county employees, the paper was again required to file FOIA requests for the names of all employees who are issued a county-owned vehicle to drive, as well the use of a county gas card.

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Court backs disclosure of public retiree names

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New York's highest court Tuesday ordered that the names of retired teachers, police officers and other government workers be released publicly in a case that tested the power of the state Freedom of Information Law.

In the unanimous decisions, the Court of Appeals decided it was not an invasion of privacy to identify retirees benefitting from the state's various pension systems for public workers. The court, however, said the addresses of the individuals shouldn't be made public.

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White House Official Accused of Trying to Hide Communications

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A conservative think tank is alleging the White House is skirting transparency laws by allowing President Barack Obama’s science adviser to use a private email account to conduct government business.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has sued the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to produce the work-related emails of its director, John Holdren, that were sent from a private email account and thus hidden from the Freedom of Information Act and archiving laws.

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Cause of Action asks court to stop FTC abuse of FOIA fee waiver authority

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How do the federal courts define who is a legitimate "representative of the news media"? According to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, that's "any person or organization which regularly publishes or disseminates information to the public."

But does a nonprofit watchdog group that advocates and litigates on behalf of the public's right to know what the government is doing also qualify as a representative of the news media?

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Editorial: The Latest Benghazi Freak-Out in 10 Sentences

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Last week, in response to a Freedom of Information request filed by Judicial Watch, the White House released a memo related to Benghazi that was authored by Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser for strategic communication. The four-page memo, written a few days after the attacks, was designed to prep Susan Rice for her upcoming appearances on several Sunday talk shows. Among other things, it addressed the anti-American protests that had first sprung up in Egypt and then spread throughout the Middle East, including this line as one of the goals of her appearances:

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Lawmakers file bills bolstering Delaware’s FOIA laws

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Four pieces of legislation that could increase transparency in government and strengthen Delaware's Freedom of Information Act were filed by Democratic lawmakers Tuesday.

The bills tackle posting of meeting minutes, mailed FOIA requests, publishing of annual reports and require an annual seminar for the state's FOIA coordinators.

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Future court rulings should require state chambers of commerce and other groups receiving tax dollars to adhere to open-records

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Hilton Head Island businessman Skip Hoagland scored big last month when a circuit court judge ruled that the Town of Hilton Head Island could not charge for the time it will take town staff to comply with a subpoena Hoagland has filed, seeking documents. The ruling means Hoagland will only have to pay the cost of copying roughly 4,800 pages of town documents he has requested, including accounting details, spending records and contract bids.

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NARA creates FOIA advisory committee

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The National Archives and Records Administration will create a committee to improve the way the government process Freedom of Information Act request, a May 5 Federal Register notice says.

"NARA has determined that the creation of the FOIA Advisory Committee is in the public interest due to the expertise and valuable advice the Committee members will provide on issues related to improving the administration of FOIA," the notice says.

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Believe the hype: Big data can have a big social impact

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Given all the hype around so called big data at the moment, it would be easy to dismiss it as nothing more than the latest technology buzzword. This would be a mistake, given that the application and interpretation of huge – often publicly available – data sets is already supporting new models of creativity, innovation and engagement.

To date, stories of big data's progress and successes have tended to come from government and the private sector, but we've heard little about its relevance to social organisations. Yet big data can fuel big social change.

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