Freedom of Information Act

The Journal News Gun Owner Database Debacle

Whenever one's privacy is breached in the public sphere, there's always that awkward, immediate reaction when the reader asks, "Was that one too far?" Well, it depends on impact and damage; this was a main concern with WikiLeaks - "Did their privacy leaks put anyone in harm's way?" underlies every c ... More >>

"Land" and Frisk? Privacy Concerns Abound as NYPD Looks Into Possibility of Drones Patrolling New York Skies

Get excited New Yorkers! Our city is inching one step closer to resembling one of those nightmarish societies depicted in your favorite 20th century dystopian novel with the impending introduction of police surveillance drones into our air space. No, they're not just for the war in Afghanistan. Unm ... More >>

Obama Will Release The White House's Beer Recipe

We did it, everyone. Following a public outcry, petition, and the filing of a federal Freedom of Information Act request, the Leader of the Free World will release the White House's beer recipe.

Mr. President, We Demand You Release Your White House Beer Recipe

Chug, chug, chug, chug! [See More: Dr. Seuss Loves Beer: Let's Sing a Song About It | Brooklyn Pour Announces First Round of Brewers] Well, it's no surprise that the guy with the most stressful job in the world likes to drink beer. We just want to be able to drink it with him. Some clever beer e ... More >>

Bill de Blasio: Release Your Staff Evaluations, Mr. Mayor

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is upping the ante on the debate over teacher evaluations by calling on the mayor to release evaluations of staffers from his office. De Blasio -- who is expected to run for mayor in 2013 and who frequently gets headlines for criticizing Bloomberg -- is rallying arou ... More >>

Mike Bloomberg, Albany Dispute Release of Teacher Ranking Data

Will teacher rankings be made public? This is a complicated question, and will likely be decided soon by New York pols. But first, a bit of background. Remember that various media outlets published in February 18,000 New York City teacher ratings, after the United Federation of Teachers lost a len ... More >>

Secrets of the Fed's $7.8 TRILLION Bank Bailout Revealed

Gage SkidmoreBanks benefited even more from the public bailout than previously known.​It's been three years since the the cataclysmic financial crisis that nearly destroyed the global economy, and three years since the government offered up $700 billion in public money to prop up the banks tha ... More >>

The FBI's Village Voice Files: 'It Is a Well-Known Hippie Paper'

​The FBI has released a cache of documents about the Village Voice dating from 1969 to 1997 that are now available under FOIA. Bomb threats! Contras! Secret lists! Ed Koch vs. J. Edgar Hoover! First up: were Village Voice subscribers in the '70s added to a creepy secret government list? A le ... More >>

Talking Points Memo Brought Down in Apparent Hacker Attack

​Talking Points Memo (or TPM, as the kids call it), was down for about 8 hours overnight. This major site interruption comes after they ran 14 mugshots of alleged members of the hacker group Anonymous after their arrests. TPM obtained the mugshots through the Freedom of Information Act and wer ... More >>

Sarah Palin's Emails as Governor Coming Soon; New York Times Read Goldman Sachs Emails

​Maybe this really is the age of WikiLeaks. Transparency, hacks and secrets of all stripes are currently getting big play in media news, ranging from the travails of Anthony Weiner's penis to shady New York Times snooping and the Freedom of Information Act at work. We've seen the latter in the ... More >>

Osama Bin Laden Death Photos Still Secret Despite Freedom of Information Act Attempts

​When President Barack Obama decided he would not make pictures of a dead Osama Bin Laden public for fear of inciting violence by "spiking the football," a handful of enterprising journalists went the legal route to campaign for their release. By filing Freedom of Information Act requests, pub ... More >>

Osama Bin Laden Death Pictures Hit First Freedom of Information Act Bump

​With President Obama deciding that the United States is not the type of country to release photographs of a dead Osama Bin Laden, shot in the head, there are two ways the public will ever see them: 1) a government leak when this all dies down, or 2) an enterprising journalist whose Freedom of ... More >>

Osama Bin Laden Death Pictures Now in Freedom of Information Act Limbo

​Since President Barack Obama decided that the pictures of Osama Bin Laden were too gruesome to make public, lest they inflame violence or be used as anti-U.S. propaganda, it will be up to journalists to force transparency from the administration. (That, or Obama could have them leaked, thereb ... More >>

9/11 Video From Police Helicopter Now on YouTube

The "secret-sharing" website Cryptome has released a never-before-seen video of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, as visible from a police helicopter circling 300 feet above the burning towers. The video was obtained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as part o ... More >>

Castro's CIA Milkshake! Plus Other Tales From Edible Secrets: A Food Tour of Classified U.S. History

Microcosm PublishingZinn Foer​Milkshakes meet mind control, acid dropping, and American hegemony in Michael Hoerger and Mia Partlow's new book, Edible Secrets: A Food Tour of Classified U.S. History, which makes the case that food and government conspiracy go hand in hand.

City Unsure If Soda Really Makes You Fat

​The New York Times got its hands on some internal e-mails today that show how desperate city health department officials were to sell a "soda makes you fat" campaign in an effort to boost support for a penny-per-ounce soda tax proposal that ultimately fizzled.

Mayor Bloomberg's Interns: Perfect Pictures of "Clubby" Nepotism

​Gotta love that Freedom of Information Act! The New York Times filed one to get the names of Mayor Bloomberg's interns, and when they got them, they wrote about who they are! And who are they?

Michael Jackson Saves Slow News Day with FBI Kid Sex, Death Threat Files

​It's Christmas Eve's Eve's Eve and we got nothing, so thank Santa for the Freedom of Information Act, which got the FBI to release documents showing that the feds were looking into Michael Jackson's life, particularly the parts spent with young boys. Now we can relive the magic all over again ... More >>

Ending the Day With 333 Pages of Michael Jackson Sex Crime Investigation

​Sometimes one must just bow to the bounteous fruits of the Freedom of Information Act, a request via which has led the FBI to unveil their epic file on Michael Jackson, wherein the twin salient facts relevant to the law--the threats and stalkers and extortion schemes that accrue to the very, ... More >>

NYCLU Sues Homeland Security Over Spying on Citizens

The New York Civil Liberties Union is suing the Department of Homeland Security to find anything it can about the NYPD's plans to build a massive surveillance system in Lower Manhattan. The system will allow the NYPD, and possibly the federal government, to create a computerized database on the mo ... More >>

CIA Paranoia and the Lady from Vermont

9/11 hysteria, even surrounding 60-year-old documents about American spies

We're All Suspects

As our civil liberties disappear, where are the Democrats?

The Haze Over 43rd Street

Will the New York Times ever own up to the failures of its early ground zero health coverage?

Spoiler Alert

Seven years later, doc reopens the Nader debate: Is it all his fault?

Spying on Big Brother

Now you can find out if you're being surveilled by the FBI or the NYPD.

The Story of O

Probing for truth in this four-character drama

Brutal Chain of Command

Harsh light from the Supreme Court on White House war crimes against detainees everywhere

Fecund Master

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

The Bush team chants, 'We do not torture,' but nobody around the world believes them

Who Loves the Sun?

Speaking with Steven Aftergood, activist against government secrecy

The Pope's CIA File

New released papers show link between church, spooks against Soviet Union

Some Children Left Behind—in Abu Ghraib

Timeline of Tragedy

Picking up the pieces of 9-11, putting them in order, trying to make sense

Dollar Dissent

Tax Resisters Chip Away at Bush's War Chest

Bracing for Bush's War at Home

Ground Laid for Historic Presidential Powers Push

Nation

Crossing Swords With General Ashcroft

Where Is Our Bill of Rights Defense Committee?

Nation

U.S. Military Proposes Illegal Bioweapons Research

The Carlyle Connection

How the Pentagon Learned to Love the Weapon No One Wanted

Prevarication Becomes Electric

New Awareness of EMF Health Risks Fuels Opposition to Chelsea Substation

Powers of Military Tribunals

The Official Story

Government Gives No Information on Detainees

From Their Vaults to Your Desktop

Finding Documents the Man Wants to Hide

A Textbook Case

Will e-tailers eliminate the university bookstore?

Foiling FOIA

Will the Justice Department Limit Public Access to Information?

Gangsta Rule

Keeping a Piece of the Action

Killer Instinct

APB Online Hopes Crime Will Pay

Listening In

The U.S.-led ECHELON spy network is eavesdropping on the whole world

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Robbed