First Amendment News

Sunlight Foundation wants freedom of information law for Internet

The Sunlight Foundation argues that in the Internet age it is imperative to require the government to post public information in a timely and user-friendly way. It supports Public Online Information Act, a law that modernizes government disclosure. -db Sunlight Foundation Opinion March 23, 2010 In the age of the Internet, government is transparent only when public information is available online. The Sunlight Foundation supports the Public Online Information Act (POIA), legislation that embraces a

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Capistrano schools held in violation of California’s open meeting laws

A superior court judge ruled that the Capistrano Unified School District violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, in not properly preparing the agenda on a closed door meeting on a personnel matter. In recent years the board had been reprimanded five times for violating the Brown Act, and a board with all new members had pledged to do better. -db Orange County Register March 22, 2010 By Scott Martindale SANTA ANA –

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Chinese human rights activists mourn Google’s withdrawal from China

With Google poised to withdraw from China, there is recognition that China has dealt a blow to hopes for its gradual change to a more open and democratic society. db The Washington Post March 20, 2010 By John Pomfret BEIJING — When Google announced that it would pull out of China if it had to continue censoring content, Zhao Hun went to the Internet giant’s Beijing headquarters with a bouquet of flowers. For the popular

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Federal judge says leak classified info, pay the penalty

A federal judge says in certain circumstances individuals might choose to leak classified information when  the public should know what the government is doing, but the leaker should be willing to take the consequences of breaking the law. -db Secrecy News Federation of American Scientists March 22, 2010 By Steven Aftergood Leaking classified information to an unauthorized person may be the right thing to do in certain circumstances, suggested Judge T.S. Ellis, III of the

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Congress acts to cast federal transparency initiatives in cement

A bipartisan move is afoot to make Obama’s transparency initiatives permanent. -db NextGov March 18, 2010 By Aliya Sternstein Lawmakers from both parties are pursuing efforts that would require agencies to post public information online by default, moves that would preserve for posterity elements of the Obama administration’s open government agenda. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., introduced on Tuesday the 2010 Public Online Information Act (H.R.4858), which would require all executive branch records to be searchable

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