“Open science is a priority at NIH and across the U.S. Federal Government. Earlier this year, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) declared 2023 to be the Year of Open Science. This OSTP announcement included details on actions being taken across the Federal Government to advance national open science policy, provide… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Freedom of Information
Democracy Report 2023
DEMOCRACY REPORT 2023 #Defiance in the Face of #Autocratization. “Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) produces the largest global dataset on #democracy with over 31 million data points for 202 countries from 1789 to 2022. Involving almost 4,000 scholars and other country experts, V-Dem measures hundreds of different attributes of democracy. V-Dem enables new ways to study… Continue Reading
Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022
accessnow: “From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, authorities are imposing internet shutdowns at staggering rates. In 2022 alone, governments and other actors disrupted the internet at least 187 times across 35 countries — breaking our #KeepItOn record for the number of countries to hit the kill switch in a single year. Not only are shutdowns resurging after… Continue Reading
Annual Transparency Index Links Corruption with Increased Violence Globally
“The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), released yesterday by Transparency International, concludes that 95% of countries have made little to no progress fighting corruption since 2017. This 21st edition of the index ranks 180 countries and territories by experts’ perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very… Continue Reading
The State of Open Humanitarian Data 2023
A report by the UN’s Humanitarian Data Exchange. “This report was produced in February 2023 by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Centre for Humanitarian Data, which manages the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX) platform…In our fourth year of producing The State of Open Humanitarian Data, we can report the highest… Continue Reading
Supreme Court justices discussed, but did not agree on, code of conduct
Washington Post: “…It remains an active topic at the court, these people said, and the court’s legal counsel Ethan Torrey prepared a working document of issues for them to consider. There is no timeline for the justices to act, however. Those familiar with the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation.… Continue Reading
EEAS Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threats
1st EEAS Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threats. Towards a framework for networked defence, February 2023. “This first edition of the report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference threats is informed by the work of the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) Stratcom division 8 in 2022. It is the first of its kind… Continue Reading
I’m a teacher in Florida. Here’s what the DeSantis book bans look like in my classroom
The Guardian: “A new crackdown on books in Florida schools has had a chilling effect in classrooms. “I’m done! I’m done! What do I do now?” Every teacher, in every classroom, hears this many (thousands) of times daily from their students. In my classroom, for more than a decade, the answer has always been “Get… Continue Reading
At the Supreme Court, ethics questions over a spouse’s business ties
The New York Times: “After Chief Justice John Roberts joined the Supreme Court, his wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, gave up her career as a law firm partner to become a high-end legal recruiter in an effort to alleviate potential conflicts of interest. Jane Roberts later recalled in an interview that her husband’s job made it… Continue Reading
Records Released In Response to Presidential Records Act (PRA) questions under the Trump Administration
NARA: “NARA officials are often consulted about the management of presidential and federal records. The Presidential Records Act governs access to records after the end of an administration. The National Archives received records from the Trump Administration, which ended on January 20, 2021. We are in the process of preserving and providing access to these records, including all… Continue Reading
Do classified document revelations highlight problems at the National Archives?
The American Prospect – “Presidential Document Scandals Should Take Down America’s Secrecy Industry We classify way too many documents. Unfortunately, that will probably not be the takeaway from recent events. America has a problem with classified information. But this problem isn’t the one you’ve been hearing about for the past few weeks, with the revelations… Continue Reading
Florida teachers told to remove books from classroom libraries or risk felony prosecution
My Sun Coast: “Manatee County Schools Spokesperson Michael Barber confirms that communication has been sent to principals of schools to vet books teachers have in their classroom. In December, House Bill 1467 stated that School Library and Instructional Materials requires school district to adopt procedures for determining and reviewing content for library media centers. This… Continue Reading
