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A step backward on Illinois' Freedom of Information Act
2010-05-02 22:56:00 The Senate has passed and sent on to Gov. Pat Quinn for his signature a new law that weakens the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by forbidding the state or any unit of local government from disclosing a public employee's job evaluation. Under existing law, a unit of government could in some circumstances, decide to make work record available for the public to see, but now cities and other units of local government will be barred from doing so. As this informative editorial in the State Journal-Register notes, Quinn would be violating his own pledge for more open government if he signs this bill. This editorial also provides a useful example of why disclosure of works record sometimes is important.There's no other...
Freedom of Information Act Request pending on Obama's Health Care Spy Progr
2009-08-08 18:13:00 (***DISCLAIMER ON BEHALF OF THE MOTHERLAND:In the interest of full disclosure it is our duty here at Black Dog Press to inform you that the following article may be considered "fishy" information, or even as dastardly as, "disinformation." Understanding that this makes us ungrateful citizens, we ask our readers with what patriotic duty we have left to report this article to flag@whitehouse.gov.***) As the Obama administration begins to figure out that, not only do a large number of American's disagree with the type of Health Care "reform" he seeks to implement, they may have yet another thorn in their side. American's don't like people spying on them. I refer of course to the White House blog, which has been widely reported of late, for asking Americans, to turn in those, who even in "casual conversation" differ from Obama's policy on Health Care. Even more shocking than the fact people could dissent from the Obama administration, and be so ungrateful for the gifts h...
By: BLACK DOG PRESS
ACLU?s Five Year Quest For Secret Bush Administration Torture Memos Ends To
2009-04-16 17:02:00 Meanwhile, The Obama Administration Chooses To Keep Perhaps The Most Damning Evidence Of Criminal Activity Under The Belt Looks like the Bush Administration version of the Department of Justice’s (”DoJ” for acronym “freaks”) subdivision called the Office of Legal... This is only a comment summary. Visit http://guntotingliberal.com to view the lastest content complete with some of the most outrageous original photoshops in the political blogosphere!
Moyers: Democracy in America Is a Series of Narrow Escapes, and We May Be R
2008-05-19 06:12:00 AlterNet The earth we share as our common gift, to be passed on in good condition to our children's children, is being despoiled. Private wealth is growing as public needs increase apace. Our Constitution is perilously close to being consigned to the valley of the shadow of death, betrayed by a powerful cabal of secrecy-obsessed authoritarians. Terms like "liberty" and "individual freedom" invoked by generations of Americans who battled to widen the 1787 promise to "promote the general welfare" have been perverted to create a government primarily dedicated to the welfare of the state and the political class that runs it. Yes, Virginia, there is a class war and ordinary people are losing it. It isn't necessary to be a Jeremiah crying aloud to a sinful Jerusalem that the Lord is about to afflict them for their sins of idolatry, or Cassandra, making a nuisance of herself as she wanders around King Priam's palace grounds wailing "The Greeks are coming." Or Socrates, the gadfly, stin...
CCTV Cameras + Freedom Of Information Act = Free Music Video
2008-05-09 18:04:00 When you live in a country with roughly 13 million CCTV cameras an available camera is never that far away. A U.K. band called The Get Out Clause couldn’t afford a proper camera crew to make a music video so they travelled to over 80 locations around Manchester and played for the CCTV cameras. Once ...
Chinese Sue For Freedom Of Information
2008-05-07 14:36:00 The Chinese government continues its policy of deciding which information will be shared with citizens of the nation. Five citizens in Rucheng county in Hunan provice decided to institute action which, if successful, would begin the process of allowing Chinese people to obtain access to secret decision makng on the part of the their government. ...
Support Freedom of Information Act, Rabindranath Tagore Quote, and Truth Jo
2008-05-07 13:12:00 Support Freedom of Information Act of 2008 (HB 3732)… “Beauty is in the ideal of perfect harmony which is in the universal being; truth the perfect comprehension of the universal mind. We individuals approach it through our own mistakes and blunders, through our accumulated experience, through our illumined consciousness - how, otherwise, can we know truth?” — Rabindranath Tagore (May 7, 1861 - Aug 7, 1941), Noble Prize for literature winner in 1913 Bob and Nancy were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. After 50 years, Bob wanted to know if Nancy was always faithful. Bob asked, “Have you ever cheated on me?” Nancy replied, “Yes, three times.” “What?!”, yelled Bob, “When?” Nancy said… Click here and continue reading…
China's "Freedom Of Information" Act Just Enacted. Blink An
2008-05-04 14:37:00 The Australian has an article on China's just enacted Information Disclosure Act, entitled "Chinese FOI act tied by red tape." The purpose of this Act is to improve governance, not to grant citizens any sort of right to know: Despite this, Dr Cheng [Cheng Jie is a constitutional law professor at Qinghua University in Beijing] believes the new disclosure regulation, promulgated by China's State Council, or cabinet, and eight years in the making, does mark incremental progress in accountability. The main application, she says, will be for individuals seeking information about issues such as compensation claims from theGovernment. She says that it is not a concession to the right to know, which would require legislation by the National People's Congress or parliament. It amounts, she says, to a concession instead to the need for better governance, and for more participation by individual citizens in the Government's decision-making processes. Dr Cheng says it is in the natu...
By: China Law Blog
Valerie Plame Wilson Describes Sibel Edmonds Disclosures as 'Stunning'
2008-02-14 15:13:00 The UK Sunday Times Published a series of three articles releasing information that may have been covered by Sibel Edmonds' Bush Administration gag order. She has been claiming her gag order was covering up a scandal. Perhaps the UK articles represent the real story, or at least part of it. Plame now calls the Times articles "stunning" and decries the media black out of the story in the US. There is no freedom of the press in the Bush era. The BRAD BLOG Former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson says the recent disclosures in the UK's Sunday Times concerning the sale of U.S. nuclear secrets to the foreign black market, as aided by high-ranking government officials, are "stunning"... The previously covert agent, who had worked in the agency's counter-proliferation division for years monitoring traffic in the nuclear black market under the guise of a cover company named Brewster Jennings until being outed by Bush Administration officials, was asked about the recent series of ex...
MPs Expenses - Martin is taking the Michael surely?
2008-02-05 09:44:00 I was going to write about the three MPs the speaker has chosen to investigate MPs expenses. It would have been a posting full of anger, bile and vitriol. However, whilst doing the rounds of my favourite blogs, I came across Guido's post on the subject. It says it all.David Maclean of FOI fame? What a bunch of p*ss taking bast*rds!
By: Daily Referendum
Updated Freedom of Information Act! [Digg]
2008-01-31 21:07:00 Good news for political bloggers and other practitioners of non-mainstream media.The Freedom of Information Act has been expanded. Apparently, it means that uncredentialed folks will have an easier time learning what the dadblasted government has been up to.The expansion gives agencies just 20 days to...
By: Stix Blog
FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft
2008-01-21 15:34:00 Hey, Murdock can't be all bad. His newspaper in London, often used as a disinformation leaker for US intelligence, has a real story today. Today, I got more information on Sibel Edmund than in any US news source. I'm guessing that what Sibel tripped over was the Bush Administration, via the Turkish ambassador and the No 3 man in the State Department, leaking nuclear secrets to Turkey to counter Iran's nuclear ambitions. It seems that Bush is in the business of nuclear proliferation to India, and now to Turkey?? Worse yet, Turkish intelligence has a cozy relationship with Pakistani intelligence. Now doesn't that sound reassuring?? Hat tip to The Brad Blog. Times Online THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets. The assertion follows allegations made in The Sunday Times two weeks ago by Sibel Edmonds, an FBI whistleblower, who worked on the age...
The case of the 13.7 million and the Freedom of Information request...
2008-01-18 21:15:00 Part two of the post we promised over a week ago now follows (part one is here).Anyone who has followed the Public Inquiry (PI) will know that one individual has been as tenacious as a terrier in his fight to uncover all of the sleaze, lies and obfuscation surrounding the bypass. John Hall gave us the lowdown on his attempts to get the figures from the Highways Agency in his own words:1. I forwarded a FOI (Freedom of Information) request to the DfT (Department for Transport) on 7th November 2007.2. After 10 days it was referred to the HA (Highways Agency) Manchester.3. The HA tried to put me off by stating my request would cost too much and take up too much important time for them and asked me doctor my FOI to reduce its content.4. I played their game and stipulated I wanted ALL communications between the DfT and HA between February 2007 and October 2007.5. I received a response from the HA dated 21st December with the breakdown of the costs of the preparation and promotion of the P...
The case of the 13.7 million and the Freedom of Information request...
2008-01-18 21:15:00 Part two of the post we promised over a week ago now follows (part one is here).Anyone who has followed the Public Inquiry (PI) will know that one individual has been as tenacious as a terrier in his fight to uncover all of the sleaze, lies and obfuscation surrounding the bypass. John Hall gave us the lowdown on his attempts to get the figures from the Highways Agency in his own words:1. I forwarded a FOI (Freedom of Information) request to the DfT (Department for Transport) on 7th November 2007.2. After 10 days it was referred to the HA (Highways Agency) Manchester.3. The HA tried to put me off by stating my request would cost too much and take up too much important time for them and asked me doctor my FOI to reduce its content.4. I played their game and stipulated I wanted ALL communications between the DfT and HA between February 2007 and October 2007.5. I received a response from the HA dated 21st December with the breakdown of the costs of the preparation and promotion of the P...
Bloggers Covered On the Freedom of Information Act
2008-01-05 13:48:00 Mashable is reporting that recent amendments to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) might now protect bloggers and “citzen journalists.” Basically the amendments added are clear definition to what can be considered a “news media entity,” and the definition now comprehends people that distribute its content electronically through telecommunications services (read the Internet). Here is the quote: The term ‘a representative of the news media’ means any person or entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. In this clause, the term ‘news’ means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. (…) These examples are not all-inclusive. Moreover, as methods of news delivery evolve (for example, the adoption of the electronic dissemination of newspapers th...
By: Wp Wordpress
Preserve Internet Liberty, Prevent Corporate Monopoly
2007-12-01 23:27:00 A great article from Juan Cole at Informed Comment. We all know the drawbacks of corporate news outlets, and the great blessing that the internet represents for grassroots organizing and information sharing. But of course, the big corporations are very unhappy about losing some control of these matters, and have been pushing for legislation to end internet liberty and make it into the Corporate Monopoly Internet (CMI), cutting out individuals and small groups. Some may think the word "monopoly" an exaggeration. But all private television news broadcasts are owned by only five corporations in the United States. Five is too little for healthy competition, and all five disallow centrist and progressive points of view as most Americans would define them (i.e. the range of acceptable opinion on the US airwaves is from center-right to far right). Opinion polling decisively shows that the American public is very substantially to the left of virtually all television broadcasts with a soci...
Comcast Interferes with Customer's Broadband Use
2007-11-01 19:39:00 FreePress.net Tell the FCC: Stop Comcast and Other Gatekeepers You're the only person who should decide where you go, what you do, and whom you connect with on the Web. Net Neutrality protects your right to choose. Phone and cable lobbyists have called Net Neutrality "a solution in search of a problem." Well, here's the problem. In the past three months, incidents of censorship and blocking by Verizon, AT&T and now Comcast have made headlines around the world. That's just the tip of the iceberg. We stopped these gatekeepers in 2006. We can stop them for good by taking action right now. It's time to restore Net Neutrality once and for all. We Can Stop Them
Comcast Traffic Monitoring a Slap in the Face to Net Neutrality
2007-10-23 22:15:00 Free Press As we?ve mentioned before, Comcast does, despite what the company says, limit BitTorrent traffic. The Associated Press recently ran some tests and discovered that, yes, Comcast does throttle BitTorrent traffic. So how can Comcast say it doesn?t throttle traffic when in fact it does? The answer is in semantics. Comcast has previous told Wired News that ?we do not block access to any applications,? it does however admit that it uses traffic shaping tools to ?manage our network to provide a quality experience for all Comcast subscribers.? In other words, Comcast doesn?t block BitTorrent applications, but it does block BitTorrent traffic. Now it would seem that the fun doesn?t end there for Comcast subscribers. The EFF reports that Comcast also limits Gnutella traffic and Kevin Kanarski claims that Lotus Notes traffic is similarly choked. In all three cases Comcast?s limiting technique is quite insidious and would be difficult for the average user to notice. Comcast?s net...
ATT Demonstrates the Need for Net Neutrality
2007-10-03 06:31:00 Scholars and Rogues Slashdot broke the news on Saturday that AT&T's updated terms of service for its high-speed Internet packages essentially forbid you from criticizing the company on pain of cancellation. The full terms of service are here, and here's the offending passage highlighted, courtesy of Ars Technica: AT&T may immediately terminate or suspend all or a portion of your Service, any Member ID, electronic mail address, IP address, Universal Resource Locator or domain name used by you, without notice, for conduct that AT&T believes (a) violates the Acceptable Use Policy; (b) constitutes a violation of any law, regulation or tariff (including, without limitation, copyright and intellectual property laws) or a violation of these TOS, or any applicable policies or guidelines, or (c) tends to damage the name or reputation of AT&T, or its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries. This is the exact kind of overbroad legalese that gets companies in trouble in ways they probably nev...
Freedom of Information
2007-09-29 18:44:00 This Friday’s lecture saw Richard Adamson talk on two subjects that any journalist must get his head around, local government and Freedom of Information. I do not want to blog on the former at this stage, but information on this topic can be found at http://uk.geocities.com/rich_ho-udini_wmin/index.html, Richard Adamson’s website. As a frequent reader of Private Eye and its monitoring of the means central (and sometimes local) government uses, I am keen to blog on the latter. Sadly, I don’t have a way to make this blog entry play different songs while you read, so it won’t be as jazzy as Richard Adamson’s powerpoint. Perhaps you can play some songs while you read. I recommend starting with KLF's "Doctoring The Tardis" and moving to Teddy Brown's "Rose Garden" by the third paragraph. Most liberal democratic governments desire to keep information from their citizens. Tony Benn’s diaries during the seventies (“Against The Tide” and “Conflicts Of Interest”) rec...
By: Newsjiffy
Don't Let TV Kill the Internet
2007-09-20 23:03:00 The issue of access to the Internet is more important than most people know. It's about retain our freedom of speech, our freedom of information free from the censorship of the tel com companies. Vice President Gore has been warning us about this struggle since 2005. They have demonstrated their willingness to censure. It's all about money and monopoly over the news, what we see for sale, and what information we can get access to. Free Press What if I told you we could use empty TV channels to connect millions of Americans to the Internet?New technology would do just that. But the powerful TV broadcast lobby is standing in the way with a multimillion-dollar misinformation campaign.The Federal Communications Commission is about to make a critical choice: support innovation or side with the broadcasters and let the United State slide further behind the rest of the world in Internet access.Tell the FCC: Open the Internet for EveryoneThe fight for universal Internet access is now...
The Freedom of Information Filer and Queen issues!!
2007-09-14 19:17:00 The Queen on TheyWorkForou Is this the first monarch with her own RSS feed? Would anyone really care if she was? freedom of informationhttp://www.theyworkf-oryou.com/royal/elizabeth_the_s-econd The Freedom of Information Filer and Archie website is under construction. Aiming to make it easier to make freedom of information requests, and easier for people to find what other people have found out. If you have anything to contribute please either get in touch or leave your ideas on the wiki page here -http://www.mysociety.org/moin.-cgi/FreedomOfInformation http://www.spy.org.uk/foia/ Do your bit for freedom of information and go to Amnesty sitehttp://irrepressible.info/a-ddcontent
Republicans Blocking Freedom of Information Act Bill
2007-07-28 03:24:00 Filed by Michael Roston By Larry @7:13 PM MST Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) issued a Friday afternoon statement criticizing Republican colleagues for holding up an open government bill that seeks to reform the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and end delays in government compliance with requests for information. “The Republican obstructionism continues in the Senate and the latest ...
By: Suzie-Q
Freedom of Information Act - 40 Years old today
2007-07-03 20:32:00 Amongst the accusations of Joan Claybrook of CRASH and others that FOI requests concerning Mexican Truck Pilot Program have gone unanswered or ignored, the FOI celebrates 40 years of giving Americans citizens and others, access to government records. As the following article illustrates, the backlog of requests is tremendous. WASHINGTON — Using the Freedom of Information ...
By: Mexico Trucker
Freedom of Information Act "online" form at FBI has Print and Send buttons
2007-06-30 09:00:00 Freedom of Information Act "online" Form at Fbi Has Print And Send Buttons That Don't Work - It's Not Even a Fillable Form! ... [link] [more]
Protect Free Speech
2007-06-14 19:31:00 Incredibly, the FCC is considering locking up the final market place of ideas that drives our great democracy. With conservative corporations controlling all of our news media, giving them the final frontier of freedom, the Internet, to lock down to serve their own interests. This is unconscionable. You have two days to speak out. ACT NOW! Big corporate communication companies, AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast are petitioning the FCC to allow control of the Internet. They think companies that can afford to pay steep fees should be able to travel in the ?fast lane? on the Internet. Those who can?t afford those steep fees will be stuck in the slow lane ? from blogs and non-profits to small business and campaigns ? most of us will suffer in an internet traffic jam. If the FCC won?t protect Net Neutrality now, our right to free speech will be impinged and the Internet as we know it will cease to exist. The FCC is accepting public comments until June 15 ? just 2 more days. Email the ...
Hazel Blears - Another Freedom of Information (exemption) Bill Traitor
2007-05-20 11:10:00 I've been a bit of a fan of Hazel Blears ever since she stood up for her local Maternity Hospital. I did say "been" didn't I? Hazel's performance this morning on Andrew Marr's Sunday AM show was very poor to say the least. Every question that Andrew put to the little chipmunk was dodged, requiring him to repeat questions in the Paxman style. Most importantly, Hazel tried to dodge the question when asked how she would have voted, had she turned up for the Freedom of Information (Exemption) Bill. Andrew concluded from the garbled reply he received on his third attempt to get a clear answer from Ms Blears, that she was in favour of the Bill.I think Hazel may have just lost quite a bit of public support. Another greedy self serving MP.
By: Daily Referendum
MPs' freedom of information cover-up is a dark day for democracy
2007-05-19 13:25:00 78 New Labour MPs, including at least 20 Labour ministersand 18 tories are on the roll of dishonour for backing the shameful plans to torpedo right-to-know rules, with only 25 opposing them. Is your MP on the list and if not why weren't they there to oppose this bill - The Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill.Despite promises by Gordon Brown to make government "more open and accountable" once he enters Downing Street, several of the Chancellor's key allies trooped into the Commons to support the exclusion.
The Freedom of information Bill, So Much for "Open Politics"
2007-05-18 20:12:00 Today I'm going to put my faith in the House of Lords. I hope that they can show the people, that they will stand up against the disgusting behaviour displayed this afternoon, by some members of the House of Commons.David Maclean has today sponsored the Freedom of Information (Exemption) Bill.Mr Maclean said his bill was necessary "to give an absolute guarantee that the correspondence of members of parliament, on behalf of our constituents and others, to a public authority remains confidential". If this is the genuine intent of Mr Maclean's Bill then it is indeed a worthy cause to put forward. However if this Bill is being used, as many claim, purely to hide from the public their MP's expenses, then this Bill needs to be scrapped RIGHT NOW. Why can't this Bill have a clause that states that it does not include the disclosure of MP's expenses? I and many other taxpayers have been shocked by the flagrant abuse of the Expense System by some MPs and I'm not sure I trust them to se...
By: Daily Referendum
Freedom Of Information (Amendment) Bill
2007-04-27 00:00:00 Should Ministers be exempt from the FoI bill?I don't think so. In fact, they should introduce a "Lack Of Freedom" bill just for ministers in which every single second of their 'work' life is open to public scrutiny.If you take Public Office then you were put their by the public and therefore you should be accountable to the public. Yet another petition at the UK Petitions website, but this time it makes sense. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/foip-arliament Visit the site above and add your weight to a very important petition. We'll have Ministers doing a "pleading the 5th" before too long. In fact, if this Bill ever gets passed into law, they should just go the whole hog and introduce the US Constitution. Freedom of information The FOI gives you the right to ask any public body for all the information they have on any subject you choose. Also, unless there?s a good reason, the organisation must pro-vide the information within a month. You can also ... |
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