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SB 331, a secrecy bill masquerading as a transparency bill, deserves a veto

BY PETER SCHEER--I’m always suspicious of legislation that increases government secrecy. But what really gets my attention is legislation that purports to make government more transparent---when in fact its true purpose and effect are just the opposite. SB 331, which is awaiting the Governor’s signature, is just such a sham: an official secrecy act […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Records
September 16, 2015
Posts

FAC Opposes AB 817, a Bill Weakening the Brown Act’s Public Meeting Protections

FAC sent this letter to Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco to oppose AB 817, a bill that would reduce the transparency and accountability of local government meetings, by allowing certain entities to meet entirely virtually.
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Meetings
May 14, 2024
Posts

First Amendment

Brown vetoes bill limiting cellphone searches by police

[…] was based on the idea that a search of a cellphone is equal in intrusiveness to a search of one's office desk or bedroom. Just as police must have a warrant to search a desk or bedroom, so they should have to get a warrant to search a cell phone. In his veto message, […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
October 11, 2011
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Advocacy Blog

Why FAC is Urging the Biden Administration to End Assange Prosecution

[…] publisher with violating the Espionage Act, the Trump Administration opened a door that no previous White House was willing to open. The law prohibits the disclosure of government secrets and to date has been used to prosecute people who leak such secrets to the press. But is vaguely worded enough to potentially allow for […]
- Press Freedom
February 8, 2021
Latest News

Blog

The Threat to Free Speech is Real. But It Isn’t Coming From Where You Might Think.

[…] a speech by the right-wing extremist Milo Yiannopolous. What the letter demands is a truly extreme remedy under First Amendment law -- the silencing of speech by government before that speech occurs. The letter was signed by highly educated academics at the pinnacles of their respective fields. If any group should have a […]
- Free Expression
February 13, 2017
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Blog

The first amendment is in trouble when EU bureaucrats get to decide what US citizens can read on US-based websites

[…] law. A first amendment red line had been crossed. A major publisher of information--which is what Google, in its search business, most emphatically is--had been directed by government authorities to censor its content. But the impact on free speech could soon get much worse. Google has received over 186,000 requests for deletion of search […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
December 15, 2014
Latest News

Blog

Supreme Court’s much-maligned First Amendment decision will, in fact, expand freedom of speech

[…] announced its decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, rewriting centuries of "common law" on libel and defamation, in order to boost constitutional protection for criticism of government policies and government officials. One of the most important free speech decisions in Supreme Court history, New York Times was heralded by constitutional lawyers and First […]
- Free Expression
April 5, 2010
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Blog

Snowden, go home

[…] him. By postponing this reckoning, he adds to skepticism about his motives. More important, he diminishes his legitimacy as a whistleblower who broke the law to expose government overreaching, change official policy, and vindicate principles of government transparency and individual privacy. Snowden has portrayed his accessing, copying and distribution (to selected journalists) of NSA […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
July 14, 2014
Latest News

Blog

Security plans for the Democratic convention in Denver must be changed to make room for dissent

By Benjamin Grant Ladner The upcoming Democratic National Convention inspires optimism among many advocates for free-speech and open government; an Obama presidency, should it come to pass, is seen as a welcome opportunity to redraw the balance between government secrecy and accountability. That optimism, however, must be tempered by what stands to go on […]
- Free Expression
June 3, 2009
Latest News

Blog

Real agenda cloaked in government buzzwords and bafflegab

[…] deserves better. It doesn’t take a Steinbeck to write clearly and concisely. Transparency is all the rage these days, but it’s little more than a buzzword when government cloaks itself in jargon and bafflegab. Dick Rogers, a veteran newspaperman, was most recently Metro Editor, then ombudsman at the San Francisco Chronicle. He has taught […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
April 19, 2011