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secrecy

Federal agencies evading freedom of informaton requests

donal brown December 20, 2011

A recent study found that under the Obama administration, in 2010 federal agencies used exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 33 percent more than they did under George W. Bush in 2008. Watchdog groups are now trying to hold Obama to his pledge to make his administration the most transparent and accountable in history. -db From Federal Times, December 15, 2011, by Sean Reilly. Full story  

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American Civil Liberties Union claims secrecy hurting democracy

donal brown December 19, 2011

The quest for national security after 9/11 has resulted in a number of secret agencies, Congressional committees, courts and even laws argues the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU claims that these practices deprive lawmakers and the public of information needed to check abuses and to make policy. -db From a commentary for the American Civil Liberties Union, December 19, 2011. Full story  

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CIA changes course, agrees to process request for documents on Open Source Works

donal brown December 15, 2011

The Central Intelligence Agency says it will now consider a Freedom of Information Act request for documents on Open Source Works, a new CIA open source intelligence division. An historian had asked for the charter of Open Source Works with the reply that the CIA could not confirm or deny the existence of the charter. -db From Secrecy News, December 14, 2011, by Steven Aftergood. Full story  

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Justice Department freezes music blog for a year supposedly for copyright infringement

donal brown December 12, 2011

The Justice Department seized the assets of a popular music blog, Dajaz1, reportedly for violations of copyright, but did not give the blog a day in court to fight the action. Writing in TechDirt, Mike Masnick says it was an outrageous act, “I suspect that nearly all of you [readers] would say that’s a classic case of prior restraint, a massive First Amendment violation, and exactly the kind of thing that does not, or should

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State Department still says cables WikiLeaks released last year are classified

donal brown December 8, 2011

The Obama administration is still insisting that cables WikiLeaks released last year are classified even though the cables were released by the State Department in compliance with a Freedom of Information Act request. The classified information concerned targeted killings, detention at Guantanamo, torture and rendition. -db From a commentary for the American Civil Liberties Union, December 7, 2011, by Nathan Freed Wessler and Anna Estevao. Full story  

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