Freedom of Information

FOIA backlog grows even as agencies process more requests
“Federal agencies processed more than 631,000 requests for government records under the Freedom of Information Act in fiscal 2011, 5 percent more than the year before. But the number of backlogged requests government-wide nonetheless shot up from less than 70,000 to more than 83,000. The growing backlog is due in part to a significant increase in the number of FOIA requests sent to agencies in 2011. Submissions went from 597,000 in 2010 to 644,000 in 2011, an 8 percent increase. While the government as a whole dedicated 9 percent more full-time staff to FOIA processing and spent almost $20 million more on FOIA-related activities than the year before, backlogged requests nonetheless grew by 20 percent. The figures come from the Justice Department’s 2011 summary of annual FOIA reports, a compilation of data contained in each agency’s yearly performance report under the 1966 open government law.”
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/489/3029492/FOIA-backlog-grows-even-as-agencies-process-more-requests

2012 Secrecy Report: Sunlight Overshadowed
“The 2012 Secrecy Report released today by OpenTheGovernment.org — a coalition of more than 80 groups advocating for open and accountable government— reveals that positive changes from the Obama administration’s open government policies nevertheless appear diminished in the shadow of the President’s bold promise of unprecedented transparency. Ultimately, though, the public needs more information to judge the size, shape, and legitimacy of the government’s secrecy.”
http://www.openthegovernment.org/node/3578

Technology Reforms Pave the Way for Greater Transparency
“The federal government recently unveiled a number of valuable reforms that will pave the way to a more transparent, efficient, and innovative government. The reforms implement and complement the Digital Government Strategy released by the Obama administration in May. The strategy establishes a vision for modernizing the technology government uses to improve the delivery of information and services to citizens, with a detailed one-year plan for doing so. Reporting on their progress at the three-month milestone, agencies highlighted several accomplishments designed to make government more accessible and responsive.”
http://www.ombwatch.org/technology-reforms-pave-way-for-greater-transparency

Public Policy

Public to lose most access to state archives
“Budget cuts will cost the public most of its access to the Georgia Archives. Secretary of State Brian Kemp announced Thursday the archives starting Nov. 1 will accept only limited public appointments to see Georgia’s important and historical records dating to at least 1733. Some of the institution’s 10 full-time employees also will lose their jobs, although just how many has not yet been determined. The move, which comes in response to Gov. Nathan Deal’s request for state agencies to again trim spending, could make Georgia the only state in the nation without full-time, centrally located public access to historical government and state records, Kemp said.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/public-to-lose-most-access-to-state-archives/nR93N/

Privacy Concerns

Online Privacy Laws
“These reports describe the data protection laws of the European Union (Part I) and of selected foreign countries (Part II). They describe the constitutional foundations of data privacy and the statutory requirements that must be met in order for data to be collected, used, and transferred to third parties. They also explain the concepts of informed consent, transparency, and data minimization, and describe the rights and remedies of data subjects, particularly the rights of access, rectification, and erasure. In addition, the reports examine whether the existing laws on data privacy are adequate to deal with online privacy in an era of rapid technological development and globalization, and with an increased scale of data sharing and collecting.”
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/online-privacy-law.php

House Votes to Reauthorize FISA Amendments Act
“The House of Representatives voted yesterday to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act for five years. The Act generally authorizes electronic surveillance of non-U.S. persons and U.S. persons who are believed to be outside the United States, while prohibiting the “intentional” targeting of persons in the U.S. without an individualized warrant, seemingly leaving a wide opening for unintentional or incidental collection.  This and other features of the Act prompted concerns about the expansion of surveillance authority and the erosion of constitutional protections. . . The Congressional Research Service has produced a new report on Reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act, dated September 12, 2012.”
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2012/09/house_faa.html

Twitter Told to Produce Protestor’s Posts or Face Fine
“Twitter Inc. has to turn over information about an Occupy Wall Street protester’s posts or face a fine, a judge ruled, giving the company three days to show it isn’t in contempt of court. New York State Supreme Court Judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. in Manhattan today said Twitter must produce the information by Sept. 14 or provide its earnings statements from the last two quarters so he can decide on a fine. The judge had asked Twitter to show why it wasn’t in contempt of court after refusing to produce information about Twitter posts by protester Malcolm Harris in response to a subpoena from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-11/twitter-told-to-produce-protestor-s-posts-or-face-fine.html

Open Access

Diverse OA Coalition Issues New Guidelines to Make Research Freely Available
“In response to the growing demand to make research free and available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection, a diverse coalition issued new guidelines that could usher in huge advances in the sciences, medicine, and health. The recommendations were developed by leaders of the Open Access movement, which has worked for the past decade to provide the public with unrestricted, free access to scholarly research—much of which is publicly funded. Making the research publicly available to everyone—free of charge and without most copyright and licensing restrictions—will accelerate scientific research efforts and allow authors to reach a larger number of readers.”
http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/Digest/Diverse-OA-Coalition-Issues-New-Guidelines-to-Make-Research-Freely-Available-85003.asp

Intellectual Property

A not-very-appealing appeal
“To the surprise of no one, I think, the plaintiff publishers in the Georgia State litigation filed a notice of appeal on Monday.  There has already been considerable coverage of this decision, in, for example, Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Library Journal. The actual Notice of Appeal is a very dull document; it merely lists the orders from the District Court with which the publishers take exception, and “respectfully give[s] notice” of the intent to appeal.  The real action yesterday was in the press releases, and there the publishers respect for the District Court was much less evident.”
http://blogs.library.duke.edu/scholcomm/2012/09/11/a-not-very-appealing-appeal/

European Parliament Passes Orphan Works Directive
“The European Parliament today passed a “directive on certain permitted uses of orphan works” with 531 in favour versus 65 opposed (11 abstentions). The directive will be a good first step toward allowing the digitisation and making available to the public of older copyrighted works that are buried in the archives and libraries of the Union because no rights holder can be located, the lead rapporteur Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D) and many supportive MEPs said.”
http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/09/13/european-parliament-passes-orphan-works-directive/

Please feel free to pass along in part or in its entirety.

The Intersect Alert is a newsletter of the Government Relations Committee, San Francisco Bay Region Chapter, Special Libraries Association.