The State of FOIA

Sunlight Response:

 * 1) Justice Department’s New FOIA Regulations: Still Worse than Reported - John Wonderlich, 11/18/2011
 * 2) Obama’s DOJ Seeks to Weaken the FOIA- John Wonderlich, 10/28/2012

Press:

 * 1) Report: DOJ worst on transparency- Politico, 2/15/2012
 * 2) Justice Department move on FOIA requests eases headache for administration- The Hill, 11/4/2011.
 * 3) Did DOJ watch too much Fight Club? New proposal could allow agencies to deny documents’ existence - POGO, 10/25/2011
 * 4) Government could hide existence of records under FOIA rule proposal- ProPublica, 10/24/2011
 * 5) Justice Department drops controversial FOIA rule - Daily Caller, 11/3/2011
 * 6) Rule change would allow government to lie about whether records exist - Mother Jones, 10/24/2011
 * 7) Editorial: Obama’s Secrets - Los Angeles Times, 10/31/2011
 * 8) Justice seeks reduction of FOIA access on operations: rule counters Obama directive on disclosure - Washington Times, 10/30/2011

Other:

 * 1) CREW opposes
 * 2) Justice Department Wins Rosemary Award for Worst Open Government Performance in 2011 - National Security Archive, 2/14/2012
 * 3) Holder Responds to Rosemary Award - National Security Archive, 3/12/2012

Outside Efforts:

 * 1) www.whatdotheyknow.com (UK)
 * 2) knowgov.com (US)
 * 3) www.freedominfo.org
 * 4) www.access-info.org
 * 5) Muckrock.com
 * 6) tuderechoasaber.es (Spain)
 * 7) www.asktheeu.org (EU)
 * 8) http://www.alaveteli.org/ (worldwide - Kosovo, EU, Brazil)
 * 9) http://queremossaber.org.br/ (Brazil)
 * 10) http://informatazyrtare.org/ (Kosovo)

CIA Rule Changes/Lawsuit

 * 1) Suit: Spy agency flouting FOIA - Politico, 2/22/12
 * 2) National Security Counselors et. all V Central Intelligence Agency - Complaint pdf (via Politico)
 * 3) The CIA's covert operation against declassification review and Obama's open government - NSA Archive (blog), 2/10/2012
 * 4) Investigative Journalist Jason Leopold Sues FBI, CIA, DOJ claiming FOIA violations - Pubrecord.org, 2/18/2012

Illinois:

 * 1) Chicago Tribune FOIA Portal
 * 2) Access to public information a struggle - The Depaulia (DePaul University).
 * 3) Emanuel Denies public records requests - Chicago Tribune, 11/8/2011

New York (teacher data reports)

 * 1) Why teacher scores should be released- NY Post, 10/23/2010 (by Joel Klein, former chancellor of NYC Schools)
 * 2) Two Chancellors, two different public views on teacher ratings - New York Times, 2/24/2012
 * 3) City to release teacher ratings after union loses suit - New York Times, 2/14/2012

South Carolina:

 * 1) FOIA bill would assure public access - Post and Courier, 2/28/2012
 * 2) Bills would overhaul state FOI laws - Post and Courier, 2/18/2012
 * 3) More restrictive freedom of information law proposed - Post and Courier, 2/16/2012
 * 4) Critics say changes in state FOIA promote secrecy - Beaufort Gazette, 2/15/2012
 * 5) State Legislature Mulls Amending FOIA - Mount Pleasant Patch, 2/16/2012

Sunlight

 * 1) One Year Waiting Period for Illinois’ FOIA “recurrent requestors” - Zubedah Nanfuka, 7/27/2011
 * 2) FOIA Under Attack in Illinois - Emily Miller, 9/6/2011
 * 3) Governor Quinn approves bill to delay FOIA requests - Zubedah Nanfuka, 8/30/2011
 * 4) Government Contractors to be excluded from Kentucky Sunshine Laws- Zubedah Nanfuka, 3/6/2012

Access Info Resources

 * 1) History of Right of Access to Information
 * 2) Access to Information Toolkits
 * 3) Right to Know landing page
 * 4) Overview of 90 FOIA Countries - 9/7/2009

Mexico

 * 1) http://www.ifai.org.mx/
 * 2) Freedom of Information Laws Spreading Around World - WRI, 9/26/2012. "Mexico has one of the best examples of a well-functioning FOIA...information isn't just released to the person who requested it. It's released to everyone."
 * 3) http://www.freedominfo.org/regions/latin-america/mexico/ "Mexico has set a new international standard for transparency legislatiuon with the creation of a Federal Access to Information Institute."
 * 4) Access to Information Law (Spanish)

EPA/Commerce/NARA Portal

 * 1) Agencies plan for governmentwide FOIA portal - Fierce Government, 1/10/2012
 * 2) Freedom of Information Act portal would boost responsiveness, improve efficiency - OMB Watch, 2/7/2012
 * 3) Agencies demo one-stop FOIA portal - Federal News Radio 1/13/2012
 * 4) EPA, Commerce take lead in developing “FOIA Portal” - Investigative Reporting Workshop, 2/16/2012

Milner Decision:

 * 1) Decision Milner V. Department of Navy- PDF
 * 2) Major Transparency Win at the supreme Court - Politico, 3/7/2011
 * 3) Scotus Blog Resource
 * 4) Electronic Frontier Foundation on Milner 12/31/2011

Other:

 * 1) Report: FOIA exemption use increases, processing time decreases - Fierce Government, 1/24/2012
 * 2) CREW Report - Measuring Transparency Under the FOIA: The real story behind the numbers- December 2011
 * 3) Court ruling keeps federal mugshots secret - Politico, 2/22/2012

Sunlight work:

 * 1) Back to the Source - Records not so Open With Obama - Melanie Buck, 11/30/2011
 * 2) New study finds agencies slow to adopt even basic FOIA guidelines - Ellen Miller, 3/14/2011
 * 3) Happy Birthday FOIA: Freedom of information’s future - Daniel Schuman, 7/1/2011
 * 4) SCOTUS: Corporations not people (at least with respect to one FOIA provision) - Daniel Schuman, 3/1/2011
 * 5) The Department of Justice Celebrates Sunshine Week - Matt Rumsey, 3/12/2012