From San Francisco Chronicle: MILWAUKEE (AP) — The top lawmaker in the Wisconsin Assembly said he favors expunging unproven charges from the state’s online court records system but expressed reservations about another bill limiting access to pending cases.
[…]
Read More… from Wisconsin assembly leader backs online court records limits
From Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Legislators are talking once again about limiting what the public can see on the state court system’s free online database.
Generally speaking, this is unnecessary meddling. This important public information system works well.
[…]
Read More… from Editorial: More CCAP meddling by legislators
From Courthouse News Service: WASHINGTON (CN) – The once-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has mishandled demands to reveal the government's attempted justifications of its program of collecting the call and email data of Americans, a media coalition said.
Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press filed the amicus brief with the FISC, just before Thanksgiving last week, alongside Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Courthouse News Service and 21 other media organizations.
[…]
Read More… from Media outlets push FISC for info on secret government surveillance
From Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council: Sandy Whisler was surprised to see her name appear on the Wisconsin State Journal’s editorial page — not in a letter to the editor, which she sometimes writes, but in a Nov. 20 editorial.
[…]
Read More… from Bill Lueders: Lawmaker contacts shouldn’t be secret
From Voice of OC: The state Supreme Court has rejected a request by Voice of OC and open-government advocates Californians Aware to review a gag order Orange County government leaders imposed on themselves so they wouldn’t have to release information regarding allegations of sex abuse by a top county official.
[…]
From Detroit Free Press: Most government officials and politicians will agree in public that the work of government should be transparent so that citizens can judge whether money is being spent wisely and decisions are being made properly.
But the reality is that getting your hands on specific government information isn’t always easy, even when the law says it should be available.
[…]
Read More… from Charles Hill: Bills would help keep Michigan government honest
From New England First Amendment Coalition: The New England Fist Amendment Coalition published its NEFAC Report for November 2013. In this issue: The Diminishing Public View, Barge? What Barge!? Oh, That Barge! Indiegogo Campaign Underway to Fund New England Fist Amendment Institute, and more.
By Rosanna Cavanagh
[…]
From Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition: The Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition released its latest newsletter. In this issue: When public information is not public, Littleton voters restrict City Council’s use of closed-door meetings, Journalist sues Archuleta County commissioner over secret meeting and loses, but would “gladly do the same thing again,” Judge rejects secrecy motion in Aurora movie theater shooting case, What is a “reasonable” CORA fee? […]
Read More… from Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition released latest newsletter
From MuckRock: MuckRock is in the middle a massive project looking into Edward Snowden’s former employer, mega-contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. After reviewing some redactions from responsive contracts received from the FCC, MuckRock’s Michael Morisy was curious about the consultation process on exemption 4 (trade secrets) redactions. So he filed another FOIA for processing notes and emails.
[…]
Read More… from Booz Allen Hamilton and the “trade secrets” FOIA exemption
From NFOIC: COLUMBIA, Mo — If President Obama and leaders in Congress are serious about strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), they would do well to strip away some of the discretion agencies have to determine which requesters seek information “in the public interest “ and are “likely to contribute significantly to public understanding.”
[…]
