The Obama administration couldn’t keep pace with the increasing number of people asking for copies ofgovernment documents, emails, photographs and more under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, according to a new analysis of the latest federal data by The Associated Press. Federal agencies did better last year trying to fulfill requests, but still fell [...]
Filed under: 3. Access law, 8. Officials' perspectives | Tagged: Associated Press, backlog, federal FOIA | Leave a Comment »
A riveting account of suing the government over FOIA, from a pro se litigant’s perspective: Inside well-funded newsrooms, investigative reporters can usually turn to company lawyers for help with stalled public records requests. But independent freelancers don’t have that luxury, and many can’t afford to hire legal counsel on their own. So when the time [...]
Filed under: 3. Access law, 6. Overcoming denials | Tagged: federal FOIA, litigation, pro se litigant | 1 Comment »
This excellent look at the story behind the story of federal FOIA is a great read on Independence Day….
Filed under: 3. Access law, 8. Officials' perspectives | Tagged: federal FOIA, history | Leave a Comment »
Today’s New York Times does a marvelous job of looking into the progress — or lack thereof – in implementing President Obama’s openness initiatives…this is the kind of reporting we need MUCH more of. cd
Filed under: 3. Access law, 8. Officials' perspectives | Tagged: federal FOIA, Obama, stonewalls | Leave a Comment »
From a story in The Hill: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) on Monday sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in an effort to “bring transparency” to what DeMint says was a partisan decision by the board to sue Boeing. “The public facts surrounding the complaint raise serious [...]
Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 2. Doc state of mind, 4. Finding records, 8. Officials' perspectives | Tagged: federal FOIA, Jim DeMint, NLRB, request letters | Leave a Comment »
A great idea by The Hill: Government responses to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests vary widely, with some federal agencies refusing to release data that others provide in a timely fashion, according to an analysis by The Hill. More than six months ago, The Hill filed FOIA requests for over 70 federal agencies’ FOIA [...]
Filed under: 4. Finding records, 6. Overcoming denials | Tagged: federal FOIA, FOIA logs | Leave a Comment »
Arguing that the CIA has no right to withhold records that are more than 30 years old, a watchdog group filed a motion this week seeking a federal court to compel the spy agency to reveal what it knows about the conservative Catholic group that is the stuff of legend. Public Citizen is working on [...]
Filed under: 1. Records that matter, 2. Doc state of mind, 4. Finding records | Tagged: CIA, federal FOIA | Leave a Comment »
Thanks to The Miami Herald for letting me know about this great new book! The late Sacramento congressman John Moss led a right-to-know revolution whose contours he never could have imagined. Now, this one-time appliance salesman and unlikely author of the Freedom of Information Act is the subject of a new biography. Penned by a [...]
Filed under: 3. Access law | Tagged: books, federal FOIA | Leave a Comment »
Releasing mug shot photographs under the federal Freedom of Information Act would violate the personal privacy rights of those depicted, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta (11th Cir.) held on Friday in Karantsalis v. Department of Justice. As the second federal appellate level court to address the issue, the Eleventh Circuit’s decision to deny access [...]
Filed under: 3. Access law | Tagged: federal FOIA, Privacy | Leave a Comment »
