Obama Edicts Boost FOIA and .gov Websites

Ian Lamont writes "The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the National Security Archive are praising President Obama's executive orders to make the federal government more open. Yesterday, Obama issued two memos and one executive order instructing government agencies to err on the side of making information public and not to look for reasons to legally withhold it. The moves are expected to make it easier for people to file Freedom of Information Act requests, and should also boost the amount of information that agencies place on their websites. The general counsel for the National Security Archive (an NGO that publishes declassified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act) even predicts that agencies will use blogs to share information. Obama's directives reverse a 2001 memo from former US Attorney General John Ashcroft instructing federal agencies to generally withhold information from citizens filing FOIA requests."

Comments

Re:can we request the torture vids?

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed, there's been a lack of good comedy lately and we all need something to laugh at.

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Batman! Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-a...

"...the 30...the 20...the 10...And, he fumbles! The shirts recover the ball and it's down on the 8 yard line!"

Zed: Bring out the Gimp.
Maynard: Gimp's sleeping.
Zed: Well, I guess you're gonna have to go wake him up now, won't you?

What about the pay freeze?

[Muad'Dave]

Does anyone else think his executive order freezing the pay of those White House workers making more than $100,000/year is a frightening preview of how he intends to define "rich" and "poor" and those that are "not deserving" and those that "are deserving"? What makes a White House worker that makes $95,000/yr any more deserving of a pay raise than one making $105,000? Using such an arbitrary dividing line is divisive, and only shows that he's willing to divide the nation by income. I fear that this will bleed over into the tax code, social security, health care, etc. We already have an illegal (IMHO) 'progressive' (nice irony there) tax system - I surely do not want to see that sort of poison seep into the rest of the government.