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Blog Cases

Victory: California Appeal Court Orders Records Unsealed

[…] issued an important opinion affirming the public's right of access to court records. The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles sided with FAC and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, finding that records in a civil case had been improperly hidden from the public. A unanimous three-judge panel cited the common law and constitutional […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
April 15, 2020
Latest News

Press Release

California Supreme Court Stops Cities From Charging Steep Fees for Video Redactions

The California Supreme Court today issued an opinion preventing government agencies from charging the public for editing and compiling police body camera footage and other electronic records before the records are released. The First Amendment Coalition and the California News Publishers Association filed an amicus brief in the case, National Lawyers Guild v. City of […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
May 28, 2020
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Electronic Filing of Campaign Disclosure Data

As you may know, under the California Public Records Act ("PRA"), Govt. Code section 6250 et seq., records in the possession of state or local public agencies are presumed to be public unless an exemption to disclosure applies. Here, because the City discloses the street addresses at issue when a direct request is made, […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Online Sheriff’s Blotter

[…] this statement: "Due to security concerns, we have discontinued posting detailed inmate information on this website. Information required to be disclosed under Government Code section 6254(f)(1) of the California Public Records Act may be obtained by calling Inmate Records at (714) 647-4666." At the time I complained about this, since it was much slower than seeing the information […]

June 14, 2009
Posts

A Guide to 2023 Open Meetings Law Changes

[…] the new law, a state body that holds a meeting through teleconferencing and allows members of the public to observe and address the meeting telephonically or otherwise electronically would satisfy any requirement that the state body allow members of the public to attend the meeting and offer public comment. AB/SB 189 requires that each […]

February 16, 2023
Latest News

Blog Cases

FAC, EFF and Wired win unsealing of documents in hip-hop website seizure case

[…] unsealed records related to a government shutdown of a music blog/website, Dajaz1.com, for suspicion of copyright piracy. The unsealing had been requested by FAC, Wired, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Using a forfeiture authority usually invoked to seize cars and houses in drug cases, federal authorities had seized the hip hop website, then avoided […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
May 16, 2012
Latest News

Cases

Amici Briefs Digest, Dec. 2017

[…] amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It argues that the federal statute that authorizes National Security Letters --commonly used to obtain customer records from electronic communication service providers -- is unconstitutional because it requires a prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment. The statute, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2709, 3511, allows […]
December 8, 2017
Asked and Answered

Newsgathering

Recording a person without their knowledge

[…] have been completely private from the participants" in attendance. Sanders v. ABC, 20 Cal. 4th 907, 911, 915 (1999) ("a person may reasonably expect privacy against the electronic recording of a communication even though he or she had no reasonable expectation as to confidentiality of the communication's contents"). It is unclear whether the fact […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

Newsgathering

Potential Eavesdropping, Amplifying Speakerphone

Does Penal Code section 632 (a) include a speakerphone conversation in the definition of "electronic amplifying"? I use speakerphone while working on the computer, however none of my conversations are considered confidential.

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

CPRA

911 transcripts

As a general rule, any paper and electronic documents collected, owned, or maintained by a state or local agency is a public record for the purposes of the California Public Records Act, Government Code section 6250 et seq., and is available for public inspection and copying unless one of the Act's exemptions applies. If […]

June 14, 2009