Category «Freedom of Information»

AP Posts FBI Documents on Justice Rehnquist Obtained Through FOIA Request

Documents prepared by the FBI (1,561 pages) in 1986 detailing Justice Rehnquist’s decade long prescription drug pain treatment were obtained by AP through FOIA requests, and released today as follows: http://wid.ap.org/documents/rehnquist/section1.pdf http://wid.ap.org/documents/rehnquist/section3.pdf http://wid.ap.org/documents/rehnquist/section4.pdf http://wid.ap.org/documents/rehnquist/section5.pdf http://wid.ap.org/documents/rehnquist/section6.pdf http://wid.ap.org/documents/rehnquist/section7.pdf Related posting from January 3, 2006, Article Details Justice Rehnquist’s Senate Confirmation Hearings Slate: Rehnquist’s Drug Habit – The …

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

State Dept. Proposed Rule on National Security Information Regulations

Summary: “The Department of State proposes to revise its regulations governing the classification of national security information that is under the control of the Department in order to reflect the provisions of a new executive order on national security information and consequent changes in the Department’s procedures since the last revision of the Department’s regulations …

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

CIA FOIA Database Increases With Addition of 77 New Documents

“77 new documents were added to the site on December 28, 2006. Additional recent releases may be found here.”

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

Global Internet Freedom Task Force (GIFT) Strategy: A Blueprint for Action

Press release, December 21, 2006: “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice established the Global Internet Freedom Task Force (GIFT) on February 14, 2006 as an internal State Department coordination group to address challenges to freedom of expression and the free flow of information on the Internet. The core aims of the GIFT are to maximize freedom …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet

USDA Makes Subsidy Payment Information Public

Press release: “USDA will release a massive database today which, for the first time, will mean that payment data will be searchable for every individual in the U.S. who benefits from federal farm and conservation programs. In the past, while payments made to most individuals were available, shareholder data was obscured. Payment data for shareholders …

Subjects: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legislation

FCC Refuses Release of Cell Phone Service Outage Records For Security Reasons

MSNBC: “Consumers have no idea how reliable their cell phone service will be when they buy a phone and sign a long-term contract. The Federal Communications Commission could offer some guidance, but it won’t. The agency refuses to make public a detailed database of cell phone provider outages that it has maintained since 2004. A …

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

ALA Calls for Real Update on EPA Library Status

Follow up to my December 11, 2006 posting, EPA Responds to Protests Over Library Closures, see today’s ALA Press release: “American Library Association (ALA) President Leslie Burger responded to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) update Monday on the status of agency libraries. “The teleconference raised more questions than it answered. It is a gross oversimplification …

Subjects: E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Libraries

EPA Redacting Library Website to Remove Public Access to Reports

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) press release: “defiance of Congressional requests to immediately halt closures of library collections, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is purging records from its library websites, making them unavailable to both agency scientists and outside researchers, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). At the …

Subjects: Censorship, E-Government, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Libraries

Congress v. White House: Predictions That Documents Will Not Be Forthcoming

Boston.com: Dick Cheney’s mission to expand — or ‘restore’ –the powers of the presidency – “A close look at key moments in Cheney’s career…suggests that the newly empowered Democrats in Congress should not expect the White House to cooperate when they demand classified information or attempt to exert oversight in areas such as domestic surveillance …

Subjects: Freedom of Information

Voluminous Data on New York State Legislator's Pork Barrel Spending Posted on Web

AP reports that in response to a FOIA suit filed by the Times Union newspaper, data for fiscal years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 on money directed to earmarked projects has not been posted on the New York State Senate website. [Please note, the files below are very large.] Community Projects Fund SFY 2003-04, November 22, 2006 …

Subjects: Freedom of Information

Judge Denies Group's FOIA Request for Access to Domestic Surveillance Documents

Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled that the NSA wiretapping documents are classified and not subject to FOIA.

Subjects: Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Privacy

GAO Recommendations for Management of Sensitive Info by DOJ

Managing Sensitive Information: DOJ Needs a More Complete Staffing Strategy for Managing Classified Information and a Set of Internal Controls for Other Sensitive Information. Full text GAO-07-83, and Highlights, October 20, 2006.

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

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