donal brown

The ACLU is filing a freedom of information lawsuit pertaining to the government’s targeted killings using drones. Thousands of suspected terrorists have been killed in several countries, but the public knows little about the program, how strikes are actually approved, their effectiveness including whether civilians are killed or injured and how citizens in the targeted countries view the U.S. (American Civil Liberties Union, March 16, 2015, by Matthew Spurlock) The ACLU lawsuit focuses on civilian

Cell site simulators – StingRay, KingFish – used by police around the country to intercept cell phone calls, operate in secrecy under FBI-sanctioned nondisclosure agreements with Harris Corporation, the manufacturer. A Santa Clara County (California) supervisor asked to approve a half million dollar down payment for StingRay was told “only people with badges” could see a demonstration of the product. The supervisor complained that so far he is not even allowed to see the nondisclosure

Transparency advocates are finding a lot to criticize in the Obama administration’s transparency record, praising its passage of the 2014 DATA Act and the release of catalogs of federal agency data but decrying the robust use of the Espionage Act to prosecute national security whistleblowers and federal agencies’ resistance to disclosure. (Government Executive, March 16, 2015, by Charles S. Clark) In commemoration of Sunshine Week, over 20 open government groups signed a letter to President

A federal judge ruled that Philadelphia’s public  transit service must run anti-Muslim ads with the message, “Jew Hatred: It’s in the Quran.” In response to the ruling, a staff attorney for the Council on American Islamic Relations said, “The First Amendment protects everyone, the hateful and the loving alike. Instead of suppressing dishonest and offensive speech, the American tradition is to respond with speech of our own. You can be sure we will.” (The Philadelphia

Two former school board members filed a complaint with the Marin County district attorney alleging that the Ross Valley school board violated the Brown Act, California’s open meetings law. The allegations concern actions that pertain to a charter school that the former members are trying to establish. The complainants are contending that the board discussed issues in closed meetings on numerous occasions.  (Marin Independent Journal, March 15, 2015, by Richard Halstead) Two Santa Ynez Valley