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News release: “WHO supports open access to the published output of its activities as a fundamental part of its mission and a public benefit to be encouraged wherever possible. The new WHO policy on open access applies to all articles or chapters published in non-WHO publications that are authored or co-authored by WHO staff or produced …
EPIC: “The Department of Justice has published the 2013 FISA Report. The brief report provides summary information about the government’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. In 2012 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court granted 1,789 FISA orders and 212 “Section 215” orders. In 2013, there were 1,588 requests to conduct FISA surveillance, with 34 modifications. …
Ellen Nakashima’s article [snipped] – Verizon in January filed a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the National Security Agency’s program that collects billions of Americans’ call-detail records, but a surveillance court rejected it, according to newly declassified documents and individuals with knowledge of the matter. In denying the phone company’s petition in March, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court …
By Barbara van Schewick on April 25, 2014 “Wednesday’s press reports of the new network neutrality rules proposed by FCC Chairman Wheeler have been met with anger and confusion. According to the Wall Street Journal, “[r]egulators are proposing new rules on Internet traffic that would allow broadband providers to charge companies a premium for access to their fastest …
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show BP officials discussing how to influence the work of scientists: “BP officials tried to take control of a $500m fund pledged by the oil company for independent research into the consequences of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, it has emerged. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show BP officials openly …
“The labor-force participation rate for those ages 55 and older rose throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, when it began to level off but with a small increase following the 2007–2008 economic downturn. For those ages 55–64, the upward trend was driven almost exclusively by the increased labor-force participation of women, whereas the male …
“EFF and Sunlight Foundation published an open call for help testing a tool and populating an open data format that would make it easier for everyday people to contact members of Congress. We already had a prototype, but we needed volunteers to conduct tests on each and every Congressional website. We expected the project would take about two …
“As the result of a Freedom of Information Act request, EPIC has received several hundred pages of documents related to the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of Facebook business practices. The documents include assessments by the FTC of Facebook’s privacy changes and communications with the company. EPIC has repeatedly pressed the Commission to enforce the 2012 Consent Order which barred the company from future …
EFF – “New documents released by the FBI show that the Bureau is well on its way toward its goal of a fully operational face recognition database by this summer. EFF received these records in response to our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for information on Next Generation Identification (NGI)—the FBI’s massive biometric database that may hold records on …
Inspectors General – DOJ, DHS, CIA: Unclassified Summary of Information Handling and Sharing Prior to the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings – As outlined in a May 21, 2013, memorandum from the participating Inspectors General, the objectives of this review were to determine: [1] The extent of the information available to the U.S. government concerning the relevant …
The Guardian – A leak of the major findings of a landmark Senate inquiry into the CIA’s post-9/11 torture of terrorism detainees led, on Friday, to intensified pressure on the White House and the CIA to release the inquiry speedily and with a minimum of redactions. The classified study, prepared by the Senate select committee on intelligence, concluded that the …
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: “A report released Tuesday by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund awarded eight states a grade of A for comprehensive websites detailing public spending, while three states received Fs. Indiana ranked the highest of all the states, earning 94 of 100 possible points. Oregon, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, …
