From News.com:
A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to divulge documents related to immunizing telecommunications companies from lawsuits, saying they illegally opened their networks to the National Security Agency.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco gave the Office of the Director of National Intelligence until November 30 (Friday) to turn over documents relating [...]
Archive of entries posted on November 2007
Bush administration forced to turn over spying documents by Friday
How E-gov is Changing Society
From SLA’s Government Information Division:
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has posted a new edition of its USA Services Intergovernmental Newsletter with an e-government theme.
How E-Government is Changing Society and Strengthening Democracy, the Fall 2007 issue, presents 47 pages of articles on the topic, including:
• MAPLight.org: Shining a Light on Money and Politics, by Dan Newman [...]
U.S. withdraws subpoena seeking identity of 24,000 Amazon customers sought as witnesses
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Federal prosecutors have withdrawn a subpoena seeking the identities of thousands of people who bought used books through online retailer Amazon.com Inc., newly unsealed court records show.
The withdrawal came after a judge ruled the customers have a First Amendment right to keep their reading habits from the government.
Illinois’ “Show Us” Amendment
From the Sunlight Foundation:
As Justice Louis Brandeis said (I think), states can serve as laboratories of democracy. Out of the Land of Lincoln comes an idea, an effort proponents say is a first step in restoring transparency to lawmaking in the Prairie State.
Citizens and activist groups are attempting to pass the “Show Us” amendment to [...]
Nixon Presidential Library to Release New Materials at the National Archives
From NARA:
The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum will release approximately 122,800 pages of historical materials from the Nixon presidency at the National Archives in College Park, MD.
Highlights include national security documents on U.S. policy towards Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Soviet Union, and on the Kurds. Also included are documents on the Vietnam War, [...]
Presidential Recordings Program
From the Miller Center of Public Affairs:
Between 1940 and 1973, six American presidents from both political parties secretly recorded just under 5,000 hours of conversations. This site is designed as a service to the research community by making freely available all of the presidential recordings, along with relevant research materials, so that scholars, teachers, students, [...]
OMB details spending database instructions
From Federal Computer Week:
The Office of Management and Budget has issued preliminary instructions Nov. 9 to agencies on how to report contract, grant and other types of financial data for inclusion in the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) system.
In a memo to agency secretaries, Robert Shea, OMB’s associate director for management, said the [...]
Open Government Lags Far Behind Technology; States Making Limited Progress in Using the Web to Enhance the Public’s Right to Know
From Good Jobs First:
State governments are improving their transparency practices, but many are still not taking full advantage of the Internet to inform the public. Online disclosure of corporate tax breaks and other economic development subsidies lags far behind reporting on procurement contracts and lobbying activities. These are the main findings of a report entitled [...]
Obama Says He Has No Illinois Records
From the Associated Press:
Barack Obama, who’s been scolding Hillary Rodham Clinton for not hastening the release of records from her time as first lady, says he can’t step up and produce his own records from his days in the Illinois state Senate. He says he hasn’t got any.
“I don’t have — I don’t maintain — [...]
Why New Laws Are Needed to Stop the Bullying of the National Archives
From History News Network:
A federal judge recently overturned part of an order by President George W. Bush that had strengthened the ability of former Presidents to block disclosures from their files. She said the National Archives has the final say on what is opened from Presidential records. But the Archives’ difficulties in releasing Richard Nixon’s [...]