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Federal court upholds secrecy on surveillance records

donal brown January 2, 2010

A federal appeals court ruled that the government could refuse to confirm or deny the existence of electronic surveillance records as an exception under the Freedom of Information Act. Former Guantanamo Bay detainees had requested records of the warrantless surveillance. -DB JURIST January 01, 2010 By Christian Ehret The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] on Wednesday ruled [opinion, PDF] that the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Justice

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Two journalist groups want Supreme Court to clarify lower court ruling on publicity rights

donal brown January 1, 2010

Two organizations representing the interests of journalists have asked the Supreme Court to rule that right-of-publicity claims should not apply to photographs that are newsworthy. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press December 31, 2009 By Amanda Becker The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Society for Professional Journalists have filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Hustler magazine asking the Supreme Court to clarify that right-of-publicity claims should not apply to

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Obama administration releases September White House visitor logs

donal brown December 31, 2009

In a move that signals a change in practice from a year ago, the Obama administration released its log of White House visitors for September 16-30 along with 2,000 records from before September 16. -DB Sunlight Foundation Commentary December 30, 2009 By Daniel Schuman Today the White House released its log of White House visitors for the period of September 16-30, 2009. (Here’s today’s announcement and the data.) More than 2,000 records specifically requested from

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Women’s group sues Google for bloggers’ defamation

donal brown December 31, 2009

The National Association of Professional Women is suing Google and three other Web sites for publishing bloggers’ statements that say the organization is a scam. -DB Courthouse News Service December 31, 2009 By Barbara Leonard MINEOLA, N.Y. – The National Association of Professional Women claims Google and three other Web sites defamed it by allowing bloggers to publish defamatory statements that call the organization a “scam.” The NAPW says Google hosts at least four blogs

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President issues declassification order curbing secrecy

donal brown December 31, 2009

President Barack Obama issued a long anticipated order on declassification with the statement that no information should remain classified indefinitely. He eliminated a Bush order that allowed the intelligence community a veto over declassification decisions. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press December 30, 2009 By Amanda Becker President Obama on Monday issued an anticipated declassification order and memorandum to agency heads that dictates no records can be kept classified indefinitely during his administration.

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