Category «Freedom of Information»

A librarian’s case against overdue book fines

TED Talk – Dawn Wacek – she  advocates for equitable library service for all community members. “Libraries have the power to create a better world; they connect communities, promote literacy and spark lifelong learners. But there’s one thing that keeps people away: the fear of overdue book fines. In this thought-provoking talk, librarian Dawn Wacek makes …

Subjects: Education, Freedom of Information, Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries

Edward Snowden memoir to reveal whistleblower’s secrets

The Guardian – In Permanent Record, the former spy will recount how his mass surveillance work eventually led him to make the biggest leak in history – “After multiple books and films about his decision to leak the biggest cache of top-secret documents in history, whistleblower Edward Snowden is set to tell his side of the …

Subjects: Defense, E-Government, E-Mail, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

California privacy act interpretation could make common newsgathering practice unlawful

Reporters Committee for Freedom of Information – ” The California court of appeal is considering an expansive interpretation of state privacy law — in a pending lawsuit pending involving Yelp — that would make it unlawful to take notes during telephone conversations. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a coalition of 17 …

Subjects: Courts, Freedom of Information, Legal Research, Legislation

White House Blocked Report on Climate Change and National Security

The New York Times – The White House Blocked My Report on Climate Change and National Security – Politics intruded on science and intelligence. “That’s why I quit my job as an analyst for the State Department. Ten years ago, I left my job as a tenured university professor to work as an intelligence analyst …

Subjects: Climate Change, Congress, Defense, Environmental Law, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

The FOIA Charade: A Brief Case Study

Kelley Green Law Blog , Joseph Green, July 20, 2019: “With the release last month of proposed new EPA regulations on how the agency intends to handle responses to requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), critics have raised concerns about provisions that would give authority to senior management officials (i.e., political appointees) to …

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

New York Review of Books – Real Americans

Joseph O’Neil – August 15, 2019 Issue – Reviewing: This America: The Case for the Nation by Jill Lepore Liveright, 150 pp., and This Land Is Our Land: An Immigrant’s Manifesto by Suketu Mehta Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 306 pp. “A poignant quality of anachronism threatens these exigent, idealistic books by the writer-professors Jill Lepore …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Education, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Social Media

Under Trump, 26% of Climate Change References Have Vanished From .Gov Sites

Vice – A new report documents two years of science being scrubbed from government websites. “The Trump administration has undermined the fight against climate change by suffocating facts and science on government websites, according to a federal watchdog group that monitors thousands of government pages for changes. A report published by the Environmental Data & …

Subjects: Climate Change, E-Government, Environmental Law, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

E-Nudging Justice: The Role of Digital Choice Architecture in Online Courts

Sela, Ayelet, E-Nudging Justice: The Role of Digital Choice Architecture in Online Courts (March 18, 2019). 2019 Journal of Dispute Resolution 127 ( 2019). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3414176 “Justice systems around the world are launching online courts and tribunals in order to improve access to justice, especially for self-represented litigants (SRLs). Online courts are designed …

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

Is Wikipedia the last internet refuge if you ditch Big Tech?

Quartz Obsession: “Google-owned YouTube has a radicalization problem. So does Reddit. Twitter is full of fake news. Facebook is flooded with disinformation. The low-paid moderators hired to stem the tide of false and vile content are burning out. And even if you want to ditch the tech giants altogether, good luck with that—their ad reach …

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

Craigslist’s Craig Newmark: ‘Outrage is profitable. Most online outrage is faked for profit’

The Guardian – The founder of the online classifieds site is a survivor from the era of internet optimism. He has given significant sums to protect the future of news – and rejects the idea his website helped cause journalism’s financial crisis …Newmark, who has previously observed “a trustworthy press is the immune system of …

Subjects: Financial System, Freedom of Information, Internet, Knowledge Management, Search Engines

To Break Google’s Monopoly on Search, Make Its Index Public

Bloomberg – The tech giant doesn’t have to be dismantled. Sharing its crown jewel might reshape the internet. ” Recognition is growing worldwide that something big needs to be done about Big Tech, and fast. More than $8 billion in fines have been levied against Google by the European Union since 2017. Facebook Inc., facing …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, E-Mail, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Intellectual Property, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Legislation, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

Donald Trump and the Plot to Take Over the Courts

The Nation – How the 45th president has packed the courts with ultraconservatives—and reshaped the judiciary for a generation. “…Trump’s Court—the collection of judges and justices now swarming our judicial system, nominated and confirmed to lifetime appointments on his recommendation—will linger, like an infected wound poisoning the body politic even after the initial injury has …

Subjects: Censorship, Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Courts, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research