From NFOIC: A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives.
Sunshine Law proponents sue city of Groveland
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Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for September 6, 2013
From The Guardian: US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails, according to top-secret documents revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden.
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Read More… from US and UK spy agencies defeat Internet privacy and security
From ABC News: The Justice Department is declassifying portions of some secret court orders concerning the government's authority to seize records under the Patriot Act.
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Read More… from Govt to declassify some secret court opinions in response to FOIA lawsuit
From Jason Leopold at The Public Record: Late Monday evening, I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice to obtain a copy of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA torture program.
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Read More… from Lawsuit filed to obtain copy of Senate committee’s torture report
From Mitchell Daily Republic: HURON — A copy of a secret agreement that directed nearly $175,000 to an ex-superintendent of the Huron School District must be provided to The Daily Republic, a judge ruled Wednesday.
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In a four-page decision, Third Circuit Judge Jon Erickson said the district must release a copy of the settlement agreement between it and ex-superintendent Ross Opsal.
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Read More… from Mitchell Daily Republic wins case against Huron (S.D.) schools
From Salt Lake Tribune: Linda Petersen, president of the Utah Foundation for Open Government, recently participated in a debate over censorship by government public information officers.
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Read More… from Utahn debates roles of government spokespersons at National Press Club event
From Electronic Frontier Foundation: In a major victory in one of EFF's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits, the Justice Department conceded yesterday that it will release hundreds of documents, including FISA court opinions, related to the government’s secret interpretation of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the law the NSA has relied upon for years to mass collect the phone records of millions of innocent Americans.
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Read More… from Hundreds of pages of NSA spying documents to be released
From Idea Lab: New technology tools, combined with raised expectations among voters and stakeholders for government transparency, have sparked a movement toward “open government.” Championed by advocacy organizations and a few high-profile elected officials, the trend seeks to promote greater accountability and responsiveness for the systems of representative democracy. An area of particular opportunity — as well as potential concern — is the growing cache of large datasets of public information now available on the Internet.
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Read More… from Public Open Data: The Good, the Bad, the Future
From the Arkansas Attorney General: Arkansas has one of the strongest open meetings and open records laws in the country, yet Arkansans may not know all the mechanics or the applications of the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
That’s why the Attorney General’s Office and the Arkansas Press Association present FOIA “Road Shows” in locations across the state each year.
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Read More… from Arkansas FOIA “Road Shows” held across the state
From Iowa Freedom of Information Council: The annual newletter from Iowa FOI Council is out.
Among many things of interest is notice of the 15th edition of the Open Meetings/Open Records Handbook.
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Read More… from Iowa FOI Council 2013 edition of annual newsletter
