At the center of the controversy between the Senate Intelligence Committee and the CIA is a report known as the “Panetta review” that apparently matches up with the findings and conclusions of the Senate panel’s own report on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. Last December, after Sen. Mark Udall …
Last week, as she does every year around Sunshine Week, Melanie Pustay went to The Hill and testified before a congressional committee about how great government agencies haven been doing responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and providing requesters with responsive records. Pustay, the head of the Department …
In a win for press freedom, the US government moved to dismiss 11 of the 12 charges in their criminal indictment against journalist Barrett Brown today. The charges against Brown had been widely criticized for potentially criminalizing routine journalistic behavior and could have had far reaching effects on the rights …
On The Media dedicated its whole program this week to addressing a growing and disturbing problem: the suspension of constitutional rights at the US border, where Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) can detain US citizens for hours and seize their electronic devices without any suspicion of wrong doing. Perhaps worse, …
We’ve been crowd-funding donations for several open-source encryption tools for two months now. We've discussed before why these tools are so important from a press freedom perspective, but we’ve also repeatedly heard one question from readers who have come across the campaign for the first time: “why should I …
In a disturbing ruling for democracy, a lower court in United Kingdom announced today that the detainment of journalist Glenn Greenwald’s partner David Miranda was lawful under the Terrorism Act, despite the fact that the UK government knew Miranda never was a terrorist. This disgraceful opinion equates acts of journalism …
Our board member John Cusack held an expansive Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) yesterday and took a variety of questions on freedom of the press, the Obama administration, acting, directing, and activism. Here are some of the highlights that touched on issues he is involved with at Freedom of the …
New Snowden documents published by The Intercept show the NSA and GCHQ targeted the media organization WikiLeaks with a variety of surveillance tactics, and even spied on its readers. This is a shocking attack on the freedom of the press, and anyone who supports the principles behind the First Amendment …
In a spectacular episode for history buffs and transparency nuts alike, Radiolab posted an episode yesterday that explores the Cold War roots of the Glomar “neither confirm nor deny” response to FOIA requests. Here are some of the most notable and bizarre Glomar responses that MuckRock users have received. Whether …
According to a new report from Reporters Without Borders, there was a profound erosion of press freedom in the United States in 2013. After a year of attacks on whistleblowers and digital journalists and revelations about mass surveillance, the United States plunged 13 spots in the group’s global press …
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