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A&A: Charged a fee for viewing documents? Is that legal?

FAC May 4, 2011

My non-profit organization is being charged a fee to view parole hearing transcripts–not copy, simply view. We also have been told we will be charged to view the Parole Board’s response to a public hearing. We would like an opinion on the legality of this policy A: Under the Public Records Act, “[p]ublic records are open to inspection at all times during the office hours of the state or local agency and every person has

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Reporters group wants review of Marshals Service’s mug shot policy

donal brown May 3, 2011

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has filed a friend-of-the-court brief contesting the U.S. marshals Service’s policy of releasing suspect’s mug shot according to a requestor’s home base. “These rules are inane to the point of ridiculous,” said Reporters Committee Executive Director Lucy A. Dalglish. “In addition to creating an inexcusable geographic bias for release — if you live here you can get it, if you live there you cannot — all this

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WikiLeaks founder says social media operate as tools for U.S. intelligence

donal brown May 3, 2011

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange called Facebook the “most appalling spy machine that has ever been invented.” Assange pointed out that a trove of information about people, their relationships, conversations and locations exists on the social media and that U.S. intelligence agencies could bring pressure on Facebook, Yahoo, Google and others to extract that information. -db From NextWeb, May 2, 2011, by Matt Brian. Full story

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Twitter scoops traditional media in reporting bin Laden raid

donal brown May 3, 2011

Twitter carried reports of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound and his death before it was reported by cable news and print media. A Pakistani who says he is an IT professional and coffee shop owner tweeted the attack live. The Twitter phenomenon has prompted concerns that sensitive information such as the plans for the raid on bin Laden would appear online, but so far there have been no reports of a U.S. military

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U.S. Supreme Court denies review for cheerleader who refused to cheer for assailant

donal brown May 3, 2011

The ex-Texas high school cheerleader, dismissed from the cheerleader squad for refusing to cheer for the basketball player who she said raped her, lost her bid for a U.S. Supreme Court hearing. A federal appeals court had ruled she was rooting for the school, not for herself, so could not remain silent while on the job. The federal courts have also ordered the cheerleader’s family to pay the school district’s legal fees of $45,000 for

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