AINS is pleased to announce our new FOIA Training class, The Freedom of Information and Privacy Act for Entry Level FOIA/PA Professionals, under the instruction of former Office of Information Policy (OIP) co-director Richard Huff. Mr. Huff has more than 36 years of experience working in the federal government and
Between 1980 and 2011 1.49 Billion pages were declassified (Automatic, Systematic and Discretionary, Declassification Review). However, the number of pages of classified government documents that were declassified, as well as the number reviewed for declassification declined from last year. In fact, 2011 saw the lowest number of declassified documents since
A federal appeals court recently upheld the National Security Agency’s (NSA) denial of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) for communication records between the NSA and Google. The records were in relation to the 2010 cyberattack on Google’s website in China. Google suggested
AINS, Inc., held its 2012 FOIAXpress Users Group Conference in downtown Washington D.C. FOIAXpress is a software system produced by AINS, Inc. that automates compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act. Over 200 government FOIA professionals from over 50 government agencies attended the FOIAXpess conference which
The Virginia Supreme Court is hearing a case this week about a vote to close down one of Fairfax County’s elementary schools. Parent Jill DeMello Hill has charged that, prior to the open meeting, elected officials who made the decision sent numerous emails which violate the Virginia Freedom of Information
Recently, there has been a lot of hype surrounding EPA’s proposed FOIA portal, but with little apparent critical analysis of the as-yet-to-be developed solution. What are the facts? What do we really know? First of all, the EPA is spending taxpayer dollars to develop software that is already available in the
AINS sponsored and exhibited at the fifth annual American Society of Access Professionals (ASAP) national training conference last week in New Orleans. ASAP is a professional and educational society dedicated to advancing awareness of government information issues and educating access professionals on industry best practices. ASAP membership primarily comprises federal information
The White House launched a new website Thursday (March 8, 2012) – ethics.gov. The new website seeks to promote government transparency as well as fulfill a campaign promise for President Obama to “create a centralized Internet database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings in a searchable, sortable,
The Virginia General Assembly has passed a bill that could prevent FOIA requestors from learning the identities of people who communicate with policymakers. The new exemption allows the names and contact information of anyone engaged in correspondence with a member of the governing body to be concealed, unless the correspondence relates
The South Carolina House is considering two bills that could change the way South Carolina citizens get information from police and their local and state governments. Freedom of Information Act experts are in favor of the first bill, the “FOI Bill”, which would reduce administrative and copying cost for records
