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Showing 91 - 100 of 117 results

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
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
- Public Records
May 28, 2020
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

A City Council’s COVID-19 Ordinance Allows Only email or Pre-Recorded Telephonic Comments

[…] local legislative body or state body that holds a meeting via teleconferencing and allows members of the public to observe and address the meeting telephonically or otherwise electronically. . . shall have satisfied any requirement that the body allow members of the public to attend the meeting and offer public comment. Such a body […]

January 20, 2021
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

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
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
Posts

FAC Supports AB 1758 to Limit Cost of Courts Records in California

FAC supports Assembly Bill 1758, which would reduce barriers to public information by prohibiting California courts from charging unreasonable fees to search, view or download electronic records on court websites. Read our joint letter with the California News Publishers Association in support of AB 1758. You can track the bill's status on the California Legislature's website.
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Records
April 14, 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
- Public Records
May 16, 2012
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
Latest News

FAC News Press Release

Announcing FAC’s 2014 Free Speech & Open Government Award Winners

[…] some of the best practices of journalism, building their database by hand when the state Department of Social Services couldn't muster the technology to make records available electronically, and providing the public with original source documents as well as CARR's facility-by-facility 10-year summaries. There were many outstanding nominees--individuals and groups--whose honorable work is deserving […]

December 2, 2014