Department of Justice (DOJ) – Page 3 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

DoJ accused of illegally withholding info on cell surveillance tool

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Justice Department told not to delay Aaron Swartz FOIA

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From The Blog of Legal Times: A federal trial judge in Washington [July 23] urged the government to continue reviewing thousands of pages of documents that could be released in a public records lawsuit seeking information from the Secret Service about the Internet activist Aaron Swartz.

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Electronic Frontier Foundation requests facial-recognition records

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From Courthouse News Service: SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology watchdog, wants the Justice Department to hand over facial-recognition records before switching on the FBI's "bigger, faster and better" biometrics system.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the Department of Justice in a federal FOIA complaint. It claims the FBI has been "dragging its feet" for a year on three FOIA requests.

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DOJ hasn’t found one improper FOIA exemption since 2009

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From Washington Free Beacon: The Department of Justice told top congressional investigators Monday it has not challenged a single instance of a federal agency withholding records from Freedom of Information (FOIA) requestors since 2009.

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Peter Scheer: Real outrage is that surveillance of AP reporters’ phone calls was probably legal

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From the California First Amendment Coalition: (May 20, 2013) The real outrage about the Justice Department’s use of secret subpoenas for the phone records of Associated Press journalists is that, based on the information that has surfaced to date, it was probably legal.

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DOJ seized phone records for Fox News numbers, reporter’s parents

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From FOX News: Newly uncovered court documents reveal the Justice Department seized records of several Fox News phone lines as part of a leak investigation — even listing a number that, according to one source, matches the home phone number of a reporter’s parents.

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NEFAC says Holder should push for shield law, train Justice personnel on subpoenas

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Press release from New England First Amendment Coalition: The New England First Amendment Coalition registered "extreme dismay" at the government seizure of phone records of The Associated Press and urged Attorney General Eric Holder to work for passage of a federal shield law and take other steps to avert a repeat of the intrusion that was part of a probe into a security leak.

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Gene Policinski: Seizure of AP phone records: An affront to a free press

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From First Amendment Center: What The Associated Press calls “a massive and unprecedented intrusion by the Department of Justice”(DOJ) into its news gathering activities is more than an affront to a free press — it’s a direct challenge.

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Judicial Watch, Legal Insurrection Blog, sue D.C. police, Attorney General for prosecution decision documents

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From The Wall Street Journal: WASHINGTON, DC–(Marketwired – May 13, 2013) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on behalf of the politics and law blog Legal Insurrection, run by law professor William A. Jacobson. […]

AP calls government’s record seizure a ‘massive and unprecedented intrusion’

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From NBC: WASHINGTON — The Justice Department used a secret subpoena to obtain two months of phone records for Associated Press reporters and editors without notifying the news organization, a senior department official tells NBC News, saying the step was necessary to avoid “a substantial threat to the integrity” of an ongoing leak investigation.

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