Federal Government – Page 7 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Obama administration ‘blocking’ information from the press – AP

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Uncovering information that should be available to the public has become increasingly difficult under the presidency of Barack Obama, an Associated Press bureau chief says. In some cases, it surpasses the secrecy of the George W. Bush administration.

The White House's penchant for secrecy does not just apply to the federal government, according to AP's Washington bureau chief, Sally Buzbee. During a joint meeting of news editors, she stated that the same kind of behavior is starting to appear in state and local governments.

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ACLU Asks US Government to Open Records on Drugs Used in Executions

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU) has issued a plea to the US government to open records about the drugs used in executions in the state of Pennsylvania.

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Editorial: There is plenty your government doesn’t want you to know

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There are a lot of things that government doesnít want you to know: It can be a relatively simple thing, such as the details of a $6.8 million no-bid contract for a D.C. firm to basically run the state Medicaid program after the McCrory administration excused most of the people who knew what floor the break room was on.

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Restoring freedom to information in the Freedom of Information Act

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Over time federal agencies have flipped the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on its head. Congress clearly intended the FOIA to be a tool for the public to pry information out of federal agencies. In recent years, however, agencies have blatantly abused opaque language in the law to keep records that might be embarrassing out of the public’s hands forever.

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Addressing cost and privacy issues with open data in government

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No doubt the government’s push for more open data could drive innovation in private sector organisations, but it doesn’t come without its challenges. At the Australia 3.0 forum in Melbourne last week, a mixed group of IT professionals, government officials and heads of private companies came together to discuss how to address the main barriers preventing agencies and departments releasing more data to the public.

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Why PACER removed access to case archives of five courts

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If you want to download court records in the United States, your first stop is probably PACER, the oft-maligned digital warehouse for public court records. Maintained by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the system charges 10 cents per page of search results within its archive, and 10 cents per actual page of court documents that are officially in the public record. It's a useful tool for attorneys, but often difficult for the average citizen to navigate and understand.

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Opinion: Government bears burden of showing why secrecy needed

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Finding the balance between the public’s right to know about government and government’s position that national security and other vital concerns should prevent sharing of certain information is the ongoing struggle in our democracy.

Amid so many potential threats to our security, with Sept. 11, 2001, always there to remind us what CAN happen, the willingness of even the most staunch advocates of open government to argue for secrecy is a reality.

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Obama Administration Sued for Data on Sexual Misconduct by TSA Airport Screeners

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Judicial Watch announced Thursday that is has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to uncover reports of sexual misconduct by airport screeners.

The legal action is connected to a March FOIA request that asked DHS for information about passenger complaints about sexual harassment. While Judicial Watch agreed to narrow its request for information in March, TSA did not produce any documents at all, “or respond in any other substantive way as required by law.”

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Watchdog group sues the “most transparent administration in history”

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President Barack Obama’s White House has interfered with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests over the release of communications with a dozen federal agencies, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday by Cause of Action, a government watchdog organization.

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Editorial: Transparency on Government Spending Fails By An Astonishing $619 Billion

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Seven years ago, the Office of Management and Budget launched USASpending.gov to let the public easily track how their tax dollars were spent on contracts, grants, loans and other spending. It was supposed to be a big win for open government. Except when the Government Accountability Office checked to see how well it tracked spending in 2012, it found the site to be less than useless.

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