Category «Freedom of Information»

DOJ Jan 6 deleted info on all prosecutions from website

Scott MacFarlane‬ ‪@macfarlanenews.bsky.social‬ – Though the Justice Dept has deleted information about its Jan 6 prosecutions from its website, a federal judge has issued an order listing and chronicling all of the cases and prison terms. The information is Here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.231933/gov.uscourts.dcd.231933.176.0_1.pdf

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

Declassified CIA Guide to Sabotaging Fascism Is Suddenly Viral

404 Media – “A declassified World War II-era government guide to “simple sabotage” is currently one of the most popular open source books on the internet. The book, called “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” was declassified in 2008 by the CIA and “describes ways to train normal people to be purposefully annoying telephone operators, dysfunctional train …

Subjects: Education, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries

Bezos vs. Bezos: Amazon sues WA state over Washington Post request for Kuiper records

GeekWire – “The company that Jeff Bezos founded has gone to court to keep the newspaper he owns from finding out too much about the inner workings of its business. Amazon is suing Washington state to limit the release of public records to The Washington Post from a series of state Department of Labor and …

Subjects: Freedom of Information, Intellectual Property, Legal Research

First Lawsuits Filed Against Trump Administration For DOGE

MediasTouch: “The first lawsuits against the incoming Trump Administration have already been filed by several non-profit groups which allege that the Department of Government Efficiency “DOGE” violates federal transparency laws. The lawsuits allege that DOGE fails to comply with various transparency and ethics requirements as prescribed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act. DOGE is not …

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

Search the BIRLS Database

“Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA). It provides an index to basic biographical information on more than 18 million deceased American veterans who received some sort of veterans benefits in their lifetime, including health care, disability or life insurance policies, educational benefits (the GI Bill), mortgage assistance (VA loans), and more. The BIRLS database includes …

Subjects: Defense, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Search Engines

FOIA Fellows as Freedom Fighters

Jack Wroldsen, FOIA Fellows as Freedom Fighters: An Independent and Privately Funded FOIA Commission of Rotating Professionals (Oct. 31, 2024). 108 Marquette L. Rev. (forthcoming 2025), available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5043146 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5043146. “The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a hallmark of U.S. democracy, designed as an outsider element that foists transparency on a government …

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

Review of DOJ Process to Obtain Records of Members of Congress, Media

DOJ Oversight and Review Division 25-01. Redacted For Public Release. A Review of the Department of Justice’s Issuance of Compulsory Process to Obtain Records of Members of Congress, Congressional Staffers, and Members of the News Media: “In the spring and summer of 2017, CNN.com (CNN), The New York Times, and The Washington Post published articles …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

American Autocracy Threat Tracker

State Democracy Defenders Action: “President-elect Donald Trump has said he will be a “dictator on day one.” Our American Autocracy Threat Tracker comprehensively catalogs all of Trump’s and his allies’ Project 2025 and other specific plans and promises. We also catalog potential bipartisan solutions to address the threat both now and should it come to …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Rebel Yell

Tablet – Part I: Donald Trump broke the back of the GOP establishment by driving blue-collar and lower-middle-class politics in a Southern direction. His gentry Republican critics have only themselves to blame. Donald Trump’s first and in many ways most enduring political accomplishment is not the humiliation of the Democratic Party he has toppled in …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information

Beyond Fairness in Computer Vision: A Holistic Approach to Mitigating Harms and Fostering Community-Rooted Computer Vision Research

Timnit Gebru and Remi Denton (2024), “Beyond Fairness in Computer Vision: A Holistic Approach to Mitigating Harms and Fostering Community-Rooted Computer Vision Research”, Foundations and Trends® in Computer Graphics  and Vision: Vol. 16, No. 3, pp 215–321. DOI: 10.1561/0600000102. “The field of computer vision is now a multi-billion dollar enterprise, with its use in surveillance …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Internet, Legal Research

Courtroom Seating Pilot Program

The Supreme Court is implementing a pilot program in which members of the public may apply for Courtroom seating through a fully automated online lottery. Individuals who receive tickets through the lottery will be able to come to the Court knowing that they have reserved seating for a particular argument or non-argument session. The pilot …

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

The New Administration: A Boon for Investigative Journalism

Via LLRX – The New Administration: A Boon for Investigative Journalism – This commentary by Michael Ravnitzky highlights the critical period ahead for investigative journalism under the new presidential administration. Controversial stances and policy shifts will provide many more opportunities than usual for journalists to uncover and report on critical issues, ensuring that the administration’s …

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