Category «Freedom of Information»

National Archives Information Security Oversight Office Report to the President 2013

“This report provides statistics and analysis of the system of classification and declassification based on ISOO’s review of Departments’ and Agencies’ programs. It also contains the status of agency self-assessment reporting, the cost of security classification activity, and the National Industrial Security Program. I have also incorporated the required annual report on the development of the Controlled Unclassified …

Subjects: E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

FOIA Suits Jump In 2014

“More freedom of information lawsuits were brought against the federal government in fiscal year 2014 than in any year since at least 2001, according to a new analysis of court records by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). A total of 422 Freedom of Information Act suits were filed in federal district court last year compared …

Subjects: Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Americans Feel Better Informed Thanks to the Internet

“Rather than crushing them with too much information and making it hard to find useful material, most Americans say the internet and cell phones have brought benefits in learning, sharing and diversifying the flow of information into their lives. A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that the vast majority of Americans believe …

Subjects: Education, Freedom of Information, Internet, Knowledge Management

Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned

Report by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) with support from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing (COPS Office), October 2014. “The recent emergence of body-worn cameras has already had an impact on policing, and this impact will only increase as more agencies adopt this technology. The decision to implement body-worn cameras should …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Investigative Report Claims NSA Hacking of Cellphone Networks Is Global

Ryan Gallagher – The Intercept: “The AURORAGOLD operation is carried out by specialist NSA surveillance units whose existence has not been publicly disclosed: the Wireless Portfolio Management Office, which defines and carries out the NSA’s strategy for exploiting wireless communications, and the Target Technology Trends Center, which monitors the development of new communication technology to ensure …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Patriot Act, Privacy

Semi-annual report prepared by Intelligence Community Inspector General

Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News: “The Intelligence Community Inspector General (IC IG) received a tip last year that the Intelligence Community might have assembled a database containing US person data in violation of law and policy. “A civilian employee with the Army Intelligence and Security Command made an IC IG Hotline complaint alleging an interagency data repository, …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Defense, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Privacy

EPIC Uncovers DOD Student Recruiting Database Privacy Protections

“The Department of Defense has released to EPIC documents on the “Joint Advertising and Market Research Studies” Recruiting Database. The database includes sensitive student information, including home address and grade point average. DOD obtains this information from high schools offering military aptitude tests, state DMVs, and commercial data brokers. The documents sought by EPIC shed …

Subjects: E-Government, Education, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Privacy

New GAO Reports – Consumer Product Safety, Defense Contractors, FOIA, IRAs, Intellectual Property, VA Benefits

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY OVERSIGHT: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Coordination and Increase Efficiencies and Effectiveness, GAO-15-52: Published: Nov 19, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 19, 2014. DEFENSE CONTRACTORS: Additional Actions Needed to Facilitate the Use of DOD’s Inventory of Contracted Services, GAO-15-88: Published: Nov 19, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 19, 2014. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT: DHS Should Take Steps to Improve Cost Reporting and …

Subjects: Defense, Economy, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Intellectual Property

Symantec – Government agencies and private sector businesses are drowning in information

Navigating Information Governance – “In addition to managing the growing variety, velocity, and volume of data, they must: Meet information transparency objectives Respond quickly to eDiscovery requirements Manage Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and internal investigations Comply with records management regulations With data requirements skyrocketing, how can organizations leverage information governance to meet this …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management

Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens

Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens. Perspectives on Politics / Volume 12 / Issue 03 / September 2014, pp 564-581 “Each of four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics—which can be characterized as theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic-Elite Domination, and two types of interest-group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism and …

Subjects: Congress, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

FOIA request reveals extensive government monitoring of US mail

New York Times: “In a rare public accounting of its mass surveillance program, the United States Postal Service reported that it approved nearly 50,000 requests last year from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to secretly monitor the mail of Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations. The number of requests, contained …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy

Open Access Issues and Potential Solutions Workshop

Open Access Issues and Potential Solutions Workshop – McCutcheon, V., Kerridge, S., Meyering, M. A., Walker, K., Tripp, L., Khokhar, M., Nixon, W., Cheesman, P., Pike, D., and Caplehorne, J.(2014) Open Access Issues and Potential Solutions Workshop. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow. (Unpublished) “This report provides a summary of the discussion and findings of the …

Subjects: Freedom of Information, Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries

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