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LAPD’s use of “Stingray” cell-phone monitoring tool revealed by FAC public records request

BY PETER SCHEER–The records published below–released to the First Amendment Coalition by the Los Angeles Police Department–confirm LAPD’s use, in criminal investigations, of a controversial technology for tracking cell phones. Devices using this technology, "International Mobile Subscriber Identity" locators, operate by mimicking a cellphone tower, causing cell phones that are within range to connect […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
February 15, 2013
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Cases Press Release

Kern County Superior Court Agrees to Ensure Public Access During Pandemic

[…] Civil Liberties Union Foundations of Southern and Northern Californiaand the First Amendment Coalition filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Fresno against Kern County court officials for denying court access in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP was also co-counsel. Today the […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
January 11, 2021
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Journalistic Standards v. California Labor Code

[…] and political activities. The Daily Triplicate is being sued in federal District Court by Kent Gray, a former staff reporter. Gray was fired after becoming a candidate for the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors in 2003. A month prior Gray had alerted his editor, Mike Schmeltzer, of his intensions to run for office […]

June 2, 2009
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Hillary’s email problem: A crucial lesson for government officials everywhere

BY PETER SCHEER--Across the country literally thousands of state and local political officials, from governors to local school superintendents, use their personal email accounts for sending and receiving messages about government business. Hardly surprising. All public officials support government transparency in the abstract, but when it comes to their own communications, most opt for […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
March 17, 2015
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Blog

Government Secrecy Must Not Be the Legacy of Mass Shooting

[…] moments. But in the case of the massacre at the Borderline Bar & Grill in the Ventura County city of Thousand Oaks,thoserecords have remained secret. The reason for the secrecy is unacceptable. A judge blocked their release based on the prospect of a future law change. That threatens the integrity of the California Public Records Act. […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
October 6, 2021
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Government officials use personal email and texting to avoid public access laws. Why not use technology to enhance accountability instead of to subvert it?

[…] PETER SCHEER---All public officials favor open government in principle. Who would dare say otherwise? In reality, however, they are in a perpetual search, guided by clever lawyers, for new ways to circumvent disclosure requirements--at best, because they view requests for records as a nuisance, and at worst, because they have something to hide (which […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
August 22, 2009
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Blog

Free the Hewlett-Packard 5!

[…] California Attorney General Bill Lockyer wasted no time in filing criminal charges against former Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, H-P's senior legal counsel and three outside security consultants for alleged crimes committed in the course of an over-zealous effort to plug leaks in the H-P boardroom. Lockyer's haste has nothing to do with the urgency […]
- Press Freedom
June 2, 2009
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Advocacy Blog Cases

Four Open-Government Battles We Are Fighting and Why They Matter

Even from the perspective of the happy warriors here at FAC, it hasn’t been the best year for First Amendment rights and government transparency. In some ways, 2019 plumbed new lows, with governments at all levels continuing their assault on press freedoms, free speech, and government transparency. But we’re not letting the curtains come […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
December 19, 2019
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FAC News Press Release

Former FAC Executive Director Peter Scheer Awarded Society of Professional Journalists Career Achievement Prize

[…] Peter Scheer has been named the 2017 recipient of the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists’ career achievement award--a signal honor marking his advocacy, over many years, for free speech, a free press and the public’s right to know. Scheer, 65, will accept the Norwin S. Yoffie Award for Career Achievement on March 22 […]

February 22, 2017
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Blog Cases

For Obama’s Nominee to Head CIA: a Few Questions on Use of Drone Strikes

BY PETER SCHEER---John Brennan, President Obama's nominee for Director of the CIA, has the bad luck of having to testify before Congress just days after publication of a Justice Department "white paper" containing the administration's legal justification for the targeted killing of high-level Al Qaeda members who are also American citizens. The undated and unsigned […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
March 5, 2013