Category «Freedom of Information»

Public records requests fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic

Washington Post – “With most government employees still working from home because of the coronavirus pandemic, the disclosure of public records by many federal agencies and local government offices nationwide has worsened or even ground to a halt. When the pandemic was declared in early March, many employees at local, state and federal agencies abandoned …

Subjects: Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Judge orders DOJ to publish info redacted as privileged from Mueller report

The Hill: “A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publish information redacted from the Mueller report that had been designated as privileged. District Judge Reggie Walton said the Trump administration had failed to justify certain redactions from the report on the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 …

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

RSS Feeds, PACER, and the Fight for Access to Federal Docket Information

Via LLRX – RSS Feeds, PACER, and the Fight for Access to Federal Docket Information – What is RSS and how do federal courts use it? Rebecca Fordon informs us that courts vary in the types of documents they provide via RSS feeds – only about 70% of bankruptcy courts and 50% of district courts provide …

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

Trump has paid no federal income taxes for much of the past two decades

Records Obtained by The Times After Years of Secrecy “The Times has obtained tax-return data for President Trump extending over more than two decades. It tells a story fundamentally different from the one he’s sold to the public – revealing struggling properties, vast write-offs, an audit battle and hundreds of millions in debt coming due. …

Subjects: Courts, Economy, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Internal USPS documents link changes behind mail slowdowns to top executives

Washington Post includes the 16 page presentation – “A senior executive at the U.S. Postal Service delivered a PowerPoint presentation in July that pressed officials across the organization to make the operational changes that led to mail backups across the country, seemingly contradicting months of official statements about the origin of the plans, according to …

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

Substantial underestimation of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the United States

CDC COVID-19 Science Update released September 22, 2020 – “Key Findings: By April 18, 2020, the estimated cumulative SARS-CoV-2 incidence in the US was ~2%. The number of estimated cumulative SARS-CoV-2 infections was 8.6 times the number of confirmed infections: 6,454,951 vs 751,245. 84% of the difference between estimated cumulative and reported confirmed cases was …

Subjects: Economy, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Knowledge Management

Cherokee Nation reservation is now visible on Google Maps

Cherokee Nation – Anadisgoi: The Cherokee Nation’s reservation boundaries are now mapped on Google Maps. “After the monumental US Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v Oklahoma, we’ve had many questions about our reservation boundaries, which always existed on paper maps. Now that our reservation is labeled on Google Maps, it’s easy for people around the …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Unplug the Internet Kill Switch Act of 2020

News release: “Yesterday, Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02) and Thomas Massie (KY-04) introduced H.R.8336, the Unplug the Internet Kill Switch Prevention Act, which would prevent the President from using emergency powers to cut off America’s access to the internet and undermine Americans’ Constitutional protections. The bipartisan, bicameral bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Rand …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Mail, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Health Care, Internet, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy

DOJ Releases New Material from Mueller Report in EPIC Case

EPIC – “The Justice Department, as part of an open government lawsuit brought by EPIC, has released another round of previously unpublished material from the Mueller Report. The newly disclosed passages are listed in the “Redaction” column of a DOJ spreadsheet—though outside of their original context from the Mueller Report. The spreadsheet was originally drafted …

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

Power and Status (and Lack Thereof) in Academe

Power and Status (and Lack Thereof) in Academe: Academic Freedom and Academic Librarians, In the Library with the Lead Pipe, September 16, 2020. “Academic librarians do not experience full academic freedom protections, despite the fact that they are expected to exercise independent judgment, be civically engaged, and practice applied scholarship. Academic freedom for academic librarians …

Subjects: Education, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Knowledge Management, Libraries

What’s at Stake in This Election? The American Democratic Experiment

The New York Times / Opinion – Trump’s former director of national intelligence on how to firmly and unambiguously reassure all Americans that their votes will be counted. By Dan Coats. Mr. Coats served as the director of national intelligence from 2017 to 2019. “…Our democracy’s enemies, foreign and domestic, want us to concede in …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Congress, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Defense, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

Open Courts Act of 2020

Statement for Markup of H.R. 8235, the “Open Courts Act of 2020” – “Anyone who goes to the Supreme Court’s website can read any of the documents filed before the Court, free of charge. The same thing is true for the courts in my and Mr. Collins’s home state of Georgia. And that’s the way …

Subjects: Congress, Courts, E-Government, Education, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation