Organizations of interest to FGI
Below is a list of organizations which we have found to be of interest to the FGI community. If you know of others, please contact us at admin at freegovinfo dot info.
- Alliance for Taxpayer Access
- beSpacific: law and technology news by Sabrina Pacifici
- Californians Aware
- Center for American Progress
- Center for Democracy and Citizenship
- Center for Democracy & Technology
- Center for Digital Democracy
- Center for Economic and Policy Research
- Center for Internet and Society
- Center of Open Source and Government
- Coalition of Journalists for Open Government
- Coalition for Open Government
- Common Cause
- Creative Commons
- Election Science Institute
- Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
- Electronic Privacy Information Center(EPIC)
- The Government Accountability Project (GAP)
- The Memory Hole
- Minnesota Coalition on Government Information
- National Center for Open Source Policy and Research
- National Freedom of Information Coalition
- National Institute on Money in State Politics
- National Security Archive
- OMB Watch
- Omidyar
- OpenCRS: Congressional Research Reports for the People
- Open Access News
- Open Access Project
- Open Government Services
- Open House Project
- Open Knowledge Foundation
- Open Source Software Institute (OSSI)
- OpenTheGovernment.org
- Project on Government Secrecy (Federation of American Scientists)
- Public Knowledge
- Public Resource
- RISKS Digest: Forum On Risks To The Public In Computers And Related Systems
- Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources
- Sunshine Week
- Union of Concerned Scientists(UCS)
Veto Battle 30 Years Ago Set Freedom of Information Norms
According to declassified documents posted today by the National Security Archive, Scalia, Rumsfeld, Cheney Opposed Open Government Bill 30 years ago. Veto Battle 30 Years Ago Set Freedom of Information Norms Edited by Dan Lopez, Thomas Blanton, Meredith Fuchs and Barbara Elias. Continue reading
Access to information sharply curtailed under Ashcroft
Shhh ... someone might hear you. By Alex Johnson, MSNBC Updated: 6:19 p.m. ET Nov. 18, 2004. On the occasion of Attorney General Ashcroft's resignation, MSNBC reviews his contempt for freedom of information. One particularly notable case was the redaction of almost half of a report on workplace diversity in Ashcroft's Justice Department. The redacted portions were uncovered, however. MSNBC notes: According to the Justice Department, these facts were too sensitive for Americans to read about:
- "Attorneys across demographic groups believe that the Justice Department is a good place to work."
- "The Department does face significant diversity issues."
- "The Department suffers from an inadequate human resources management infrastructure."
- "Section Chiefs are an extremely critical element of the Department's diversity climate. They have significant authority in recruitment, hiring, promotion, performance appraisal, case assignment and career development."
- "Minorities are significantly under-represented in management ranks."
Bureau of Reclamation commandeers two 61-year-old technical books on Shasta dam
According to a story in the Sacramento Bee (Sam Stanton, 11/21/04), The federal Bureau of Reclamation recently went to a used book store in Redding, CA to "collect two 61-year-old technical books on the dam that the bureau wants out of public view." This is a chapter in the Federal Government's continuing overzealous efforts to limit access to information out of obtuse security concerns. If this were a one-time happening, it could be ignored. However, there is a disturbing pattern of our government restricting the amount of information available to the public, recalling documents from federal depositories and restricting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Continue reading