Sunshine Week

Opinion: Obama administration falls far short of transparency goals

Three lawyers with experience in litigating Freedom of Information Act cases charge that the Obama administration has performed poorly in promoting government transparency. Whereas Attorney General Eric Holder said he would only defend agencies when it was clear that disclosure was contrary to law or would cause harm, in actual practice since his pronouncement Holder has never refused to defend an agency withholding information. -db From a commentary for The National Law Journal, April 16,

Read More »

Sunshine Week: Obama administration wants to extend exemptions under Freedom of Information Act

The Obama administration is asking Congress to grant new exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), to keep secret selected information about cybersecurity, government computer networks, and certain industrial plants and pipelines. The FOIA already allows the government to withhold information that would hurt national security, invade personal privacy, reveal business secrets or compromise decision-making in certain areas. -db From the Washington Post, March 13, 2012, by Associated Press. Full story    

Read More »

Enjoy the last rays as Sunshine Week 2011 draws to a close

Maybe it’s a good omen that tomorrow night a Super Moon is scheduled to turn night into day, as if to keep the spirit of Sunshine Week shining for as long as possible. As we wrap up Sunshine Week Coast to Coast, the iPhone app version of the NFOIC’s online coverage, we wanted to share a few links to important events and stories we posted for our iOpenGov app readers that you don’t want to

Read More »

The U.S. is alone among western democracies in protecting “hate speech.” Chalk it up to a healthy fear of government censorship.

BY PETER SCHEER—An inebriated John Galliano, sitting in a Paris bar, unleashes an anti-semitic rant (“I love Hitler”) that is captured on a cellphone camera and posted on the internet. Within days the Dior designer is not only fired from his job, but is given a trial date to face criminal charges for his offensive remarks. In the same week, the U.S. Supreme Court extends First Amendment protection to the homophobic proclamations of a fringe

Read More »

Study of FBI documents shows censorship withheld harmless information

The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that in the face of Freedom of Information Act requests, federal agencies hide their activities in excessive secrecy in spite of Obama administration directives to the agencies to make a “presumption of openness” in implementing FOIA requests. -db Electronic Frontier Foundation Commentary March 15, 2010 By David L. Sobel As the transparency community celebrates Sunshine Week, we here at EFF are reminded that most of the federal agencies we seek

Read More »