As stated in the note from the Sunlight Foundation′s Board Chair, as of September 2020 the Sunlight Foundation is no longer active. This site is maintained as a static archive only.

Sunlight Foundation

Follow Us

A Cite for Sore Eyes

by

Earlier this week the annual Law Via the Internet conference was hosted by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University. The conference schedule featured talks on a range of policy and technical subjects, including the topic of extracting legal citations from text and understanding them programmatically, which arises whenever people need to determine the relevance of legal documents based on the authorities they cite. Recognizing citations in text is also a vexing but fun programming challenge, so I was excited to see this issue figure prominently in at least four separate talks.

Continue reading

Law Via the Internet

by

This week saw Cornell's Law Via the Internet, a gathering dedicated to free access to government information, with a special emphasis on legal and regulatory data. It was highly energizing to see all the terrific projects represented there, and to meet the people behind them. If you're not aware, Cornell's Legal Information Institute is the preeminent place to read the law of the land (the US Code) on the Internet. They have been doing this for 20 years, since 1992—when the Internet was a much newer place, and when publishing the laws online was an act of radical democracy. We think of "having laws online somewhere" as self-evident and obvious now, but it wasn't always so. Because of their foresight, law.cornell.edu is known by just about every law student and legal professional in the country, often moreso than the official resources.

Continue reading

Whistleblower directive encourages protections

by

A new Presidential Policy Directive aimed at protecting whistleblowers with access to classified information marks an important step in securing the rights of government employees who try to expose waste, fraud, and abuse. The directive, issued by President Barack Obama, bans retaliation against employees for protected disclosures, though it does not extend to disclosures to Congress or the public. It sets standards that Congress has so far failed to put into law. The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act has been approved in the House but has yet to make it through the Senate, and it does not contain the intelligence-community protections outlined in the directive.

Continue reading

International aid groups lack transparency

by

International aid groups represent more than $130 billion in annual cash flows, and 80 percent of the groups controlling that money fail to provide some basic information about where and how that money is used. Those are the findings of a recent report from Publish What You Fund, a group focused on a global campaign for aid transparency. Though the scores for most groups are low, the results of the 2012 report are an improvement from past years. The average score of a 41 percent transparency rating this year comes after an average score of just 34 percent in 2011.

Continue reading

Undercard debate gains attention, and Sunlight Live’s focus

by

Tonight, Vice President Joe Biden and the Republican who wants to replace him, Rep. Paul Ryan, meet in Danville, Ky., for their lone debate of the 2012 campaign and Sunlight is offering you a chance to participate. The event comes a week after their running mates squared off and, thanks to a strong performance by Mitt Romney and a weak one by President Barack Obama, upended the polls. As with last week's presidential debate, the Sunlight Foundation will cover tonight's event using our award-winning Sunlight Live platform. With live streaming video, contextual data, and real-time analysis, we'll offer insights, context and help answer viewers' questions in real time.

Continue reading

CFC (Combined Federal Campaign) Today 59063

Charity Navigator