From Bloomberg: As hospitals shift to digital medical records, administrators promise patients better care and shorter waits. They often neglect to mention that they share files with state health agencies, which in turn sell the information to private data-mining companies.
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From Politico: A federal judge in New York has rejected a bid to restore access to National Security Council records under the Freedom of Information Act. U.S. District Court Judge Eric Vitaliano, who sits in Brooklyn, said in a ruling dated Tuesday that he saw no reason to depart from a 1996 D.C. Circuit ruling that found files beyond the reach of FOIA on the grounds that the NSC's primary role is to advise the president.
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Read More… from Judge rejects bid to FOIA National Security Council
From MIT's The Tech: On Thursday, July 18, MIT filed a motion intervening in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit by Wired editor Kevin Poulsen against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, filed on April 12.
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Read More… from MIT, JSTOR file motions delaying FOIA release
From Dubuque Telegraph Herald: When an individual makes an abrupt departure from a job within a public institution, those in charge will usually avoid discussing the circumstances of the departure with one simple claim: "It's a personnel issue. And personnel records can't be released to the public."
Only, that might not be quite accurate. The way Iowa Code chapter 22.7 is written, it can be interpreted to allow for the custodian of a record to use his or her discretion when it comes to the release of personnel information.
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Read More… from Editorial: Iowa personnel records law needs review
From News-Gazette.com: City Attorney Fred Stavins said on Tuesday night that the city does not plan to appeal an appellate court's decision that it must turn over text messages to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request The News-Gazette filed in 2011.
Stavins said there are "very few documents" to produce, but the city will comply with a ruling that text messages sent and received on a council member's private device during a city council meeting are public records.
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Read More… from Champaign won’t make further appeals of FOIA ruling
From San Bruno CA Patch: How well do San Mateo County third-graders score on reading assessments? What is the assessed value of real estate in Brisbane? How long does it take to travel across San Mateo County in a car? In a bus? On the train?
San Mateo County is throwing open the doors to a treasure trove of public information with the launch of the San Mateo County Open Data Portal, accessible at https://data.smcgov.org/.
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Read More… from San Mateo County opens access to key public data
From Politico: A legal clinic seeking information on the U.S. Government's use of drone strikes and "kill lists" in the war on terror is mounting a headlong drive to restore the Freedom of Information Act's reach into the White House.
For decades, the core federal transparency law had some—albeit limited—purchase in the White House. At least some National Security Council records could be obtained through FOIA, along with some administrative records relating to White House operations.
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Read More… from Lawsuit seeks to restore FOIA access to NSC records
Settlement in Knight FOI Fund case resolves tenant’s open meeting complaint, but public records issues are still pending.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (August 6, 2013) – A public housing agency serving suburban Seattle, Wash., will institute a sweeping series of transparency measures as a result of a lawsuit made possible by the inspired persistence of an engaged public housing resident and a litigation grant made under the Knight FOI Fund.
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Read More… from Seattle-area Housing Authority institutes transparency reforms
From The Daily Progress: A shift to electronic filing for financial disclosure forms for 25,000 state workers and elected officials means it could cost the public dramatically more to get the records.
Searching 2008 to 2011 disclosure records for 525 Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control employees, for example, cost The Daily Progress nothing. The price tag for accessing the same documents for 2012 would have been $1,200, according to state officials.
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Read More… from Change to electronic recordkeeping adds cost to FOIA requests
From Yahoo! News: The Senate Free Flow of Information Act of 2013 would establish a national “shield law” that would give journalists protection from testifying in situations when investigators want the sources of confidential information used in media reports.
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Read More… from Senators ponder if bloggers deserve First Amendment protection
