transparency

California Legislature’s feel-good resolution on openness

The state Senate voted unanimously last week to honor “Sunshine Week” by declaring its “long tradition in support of open government and access to government records,” but in an editorial the San Francisco Chronicle observes that words aren’t always accompanied by action. The paper cites two current examples in which the Legislature turned its back on transparency. Democrats and Republicans were both culpable. Full story

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In California, a clearer look at gifts to public officials

The toughest financial disclosure rules for public officials have little effect if the press and public can’t easily gain access to the information. Now the California Fair Political Practices Commission and a non-profit called Code for America are trying to bridge the information gap. By digitizing required disclosure data from California judges into spreadsheet-readable form, then plotting the results on a chart, the project created a picture of who’s giving and who’s taking gifts and

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When ‘open government’ isn’t

The rise of websites and apps that ease access to government information shouldn’t be confused with transparency, says guest columnist Evgeny Morozov in a New York Times op-ed. Morozov, author of “The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom” and “To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism,” says the term “open government” doesn’t necessarily mean the public can readily obtain information to hold government accountable. Instead, the term increasingly means that

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Government’s dangerous crackdown on whistle-blowers

In a New York Times op-ed, two esteemed First Amendment advocates argue that the Private Bradley Manning case underscores a grave threat to the press and public — no matter what you think of Manning’s judgment when he released volumes of documents to WikiLeaks. While attorney Floyd Abrams argues that Manning acted carelessly, Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler asserts that Manning behaved much like Daniel Ellsberg, who famously released the Pentagon Papers — secret documents

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The role of leaks in a democracy

Government struggles to protect its secrets; the media struggle to expose government excess. It’s a delicate dance, and an essential one in a democracy, says the New York Times’ public editor. While the administration has an obligation to protect the national security, the public has a right and need to know about prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and justification for drone killings, among other things, she says. So the chilling effect of the Obama administration’s

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