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Asked and Answered

CPRA

I was stopped from taking photos of court records with my phone to save costs. What can I do?

[…] However, there is specific information we also need but must pull the Superior Court case file to obtain such as: age, race, location, etc. These documents are electronic so we are unable to use our scanner to make copies without incurring costs. The only other way of obtaining these items is by paying per […]

February 8, 2021
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

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
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

Hillary’s email problem: A crucial lesson for government officials everywhere

[…] (enacted in 2014, after Hillary had left the State Department). It provides that federal employees, when sending an email on government business, must either copy "an official electronic messaging account . . . in the original . . . or, within 20 days, forward "a complete copy of the record to an official electronic […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Records
March 17, 2015
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