Governments should connect the demand expressed in freedom of information requests to the proactive disclosure of open data.
Continue readingFederal court ruling extends FOIA’s reach to private messaging systems
Public business is public business, regardless of where a public service conducts it. That's the essential conclusion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which issued a decision this week reversing a lower court's ruling. The opinion held that a federal agency cannot shield records from search or disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by storing them in a private email account controlled by the agency head.
Continue readingOpenGov Voices: 11 simple things to improve Senate accountability
While the Senate's new "We the People" legislation can potentially increase congressional accountability, here are 11 plans of action every lawmaker should get behind.
Continue readingAs FBI concludes Clinton email investigation, larger questions linger
Hillary Clinton’s use of personal email while serving as secretary of state raises serious questions about transparency and accountability Today,... View Article
Continue readingThe White House must release guidance on open government plans
The delay in releasing guidance around executive agency open government plans signals a troubling lack of commitment to transparency.
Continue readingCongressional livestreaming gave us a new window into personal democracy in America
In an unprecedented move, lawmakers used smartphones to livestream their protest on the House floor using Twitter, Periscope and Facebook Live.
Continue readingA decade of progress opening up congressional data to the public
Over the past decade, the legislative branch of the U.S. government has gone through a quiet evolution in information technology.
Continue readingPublishing voter registration data must balance privacy with transparency
The District of Columbia needs to balance privacy with transparency when releasing information on its voters.
Continue readingIRS opens up Form 990 data, ushering nonprofit sector into the age of transparency
Sunlight has long held that nonprofit e-file data should be open. Thanks to the IRS and many opengov advocates, now it is.
Continue readingCelebrating Freedom of Information Act reform in Congress, and the road ahead
Monday’s vote to send the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 to the president's desk is the culmination of a decade of work from a coalition of advocates to reform the Freedom of Information Act.
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