It took an act of Congress and a major lawsuit, but the details of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board's emergency loan programs and discount window lending--which peaked at more than a trillion dollars for the nation's biggest banks and other institutions during the recent financial meltdown--finally came into the light.
Created in 1913, the central bank has always kept details of its activities as the “lender of last resort” closely held. The rationale has been that releasing information about which banks and institutions seek temporary assistance from the Fed could cause runs on banks and panic in ...
Continue readingObama Admin PR Flacks Blocking the Public’s Right to Know
Are the PR flacks of the Obama administration against government transparency? If not, then why have some instituted media policies... View Article
Continue readingFOIA Under Attack in Illinois
This week we continue our coverage of the rollbacks of Illinois’s Freedom of Information law with a guest post from Emily Miller.... View Article
Continue readingTaking Open Government to its source: The National Governors Association
Several months ago, we noticed a trend in states rolling back transparency legislation. Disturbed, we put up a campaign to... View Article
Continue readingHappy Birthday FOIA: Freedom of information’s future
This fourth of July marks the 45th anniversary America’s freedom of information law. FOIA transformed our world by giving teeth... View Article
Continue readingSunlight weekly Round-up: Of Tax breaks and Transparency
In an interview with Newsweek, former U.S. President, Bill Clinton suggested lowering corporate tax rates as one of the ways... View Article
Continue readingAnnouncing Sarah’s Inbox
Today the Sunlight Foundation is proud to unveil Sarah's Inbox, our attempt to make Sarah Palin's recently released email records easier to use with a searchable function and an interface similar to Gmail.
Continue readingSunlight Weekly Round-up: Illinois to delay FOIA requests
While advocating for writing and printing as one of the strongest pillars of support for free government — the absence... View Article
Continue readingPowerful financial council could deny or delay public information
A newly created powerful federal financial council will have broad latitude to deny or delay Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests if it adopts proposed rules, charges a financial watchdog group.
Under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the new Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), is explicity made subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The Council, whose members are representatives of major financial agencies, has authority to collect wide-ranging information about financial institutions, such as internal company documents, in its mission to ensure the stability of the financial system. In late March, the Council published proposed rules on how the ...
Continue readingSunlight Weekly Round-up: FOI in Connecticut could lose credibility in new merger
In his book, The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records, Charles N. Davis analyzes a study by Michael... View Article
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