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“Documents obtained by EPIC under the Freedom of Information Act reveal the complete draft standards for voting technology. The standards, which were developed by a technical committee for the Election Assistance Commission, could determine how votes will be tabulated in future elections. Other documents obtained by EPIC reveal vendor attempts to influence the development of …
On June 9, I posted Questions Surround Editing of U.S. Report on Global Warming, linking to reports on, and documents related to, the “editing” of climate change research prior to publication of a government report on the issue. Another relevant document associated with this story is a June 9 letter sent by Rep. Waxman and …
On June 9, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved S.1181, “a bill to ensure an open and deliberate process in Congress by providing that any future legislation to establish a new exemption to section 552 of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act) be stated explicitly within the text …
CSIS Commission Backs Open Dissemination of Unclassified Fundamental Research, June 9, 2005: “Self-regulation within the scientific community is an important aspect of achieving national security goals, according to a CSIS panel report on science and security. The report also rejects a proposal by the Commerce Department’s Inspector General that would have the effect of restricting …
Press release, June 7, 2005, Cornyn, Leahy Call For Greater TransparencyIn Congressional FOIA Exemption Attempts -Congress should not establish new secrecy provisions through secret means: “U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced bipartisan legislation Tuesday to ensure greater openness in the legislative process. The bill creates additional legislative transparency by requiring that …
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report, May 26, 2005: Some Improvements Have Been Made to Better Comply With Freedom of Information Act Requirements “This report presents the results of our Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) review. The overall objective of this audit was to determine whether the Internal Revenue Service …
Researching Medical Literature on the Internet — 2005 Update, by Gloria Miccioli The Problem of Orphan Works, by Tobe Liebert FOIA Facts: GAO Issues New FOIA Report, by Scott A. Hodes
EPIC FOIA Notes #5, May 16, 2005: “The SmarTrip farecard, which includes an embedded RFID chip, tracks each rider’s metro travel and can be linked to address and credit card data. Most records held by state agencies are protected by law, but no similar protections exist for the SmarTrip system.” Metro SmarTrip homepage
Press release, May 12, 2005: Rep. Waxman Introduces Legislation to Restore Transparency and Open Government Laws: “Today Rep. Henry A. Waxman introduced legislation to reverse the Bush Administrations assault on open government by restoring laws promoting transparency. The Restore Open Government Act of 2005 (H.R. 2331) requires public disclosure of government information and presidential documents, …
Information Management: Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act GAO-05-648T, May 11, 2005, Highlights. “According to data reported by agencies in their annual FOIA reports, citizens have been requesting and receiving an ever-increasing amount of information from the federal government through FOIA. The number of requests that agencies received increased by 71 percent from 2002 …
From FindLaw, In Re Cheney, May 10, 2005: “A federal appeals court rules that the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch “failed to establish any duty…owed to them by the federal government” to disclose any documents which may have shown what, if any, communications the White House Energy Task Force had with energy industry lobbyists and …
SEC press release:”The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that on May 12, 2005, it will begin the process of publicly releasing comment letters and response letters relating to disclosure filings made after Aug. 1, 2004, and reviewed by the Division of Corporation Finance and the Division of Investment Management. See Press …
