Everything online journalists need to protect their legal rights. This free resource culls from all Reporters Committee resources and includes exclusive content on digital media law issues.
RCFP, along with eleven other organizations, signed on to an amicus brief in a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia urging the court to find that U.S. Secret Service White House complex visitor logs are "agency records" under the federal Freedom of Information Act and that the Secret Service is required to process a request for such records in compliance with FOIA.
The Connecticut Appellate Court ruled this week that a state open records law provision permitting records requesters to use “hand-held scanner[s]” to copy records excludes the use of flatbed scanners. Under the court's interpretation of the statute, requesters seeking to scan public records using their own scanning devices may now be limited to using those that are actually "hand-held."
The Kentucky Court of Appeals partially affirmed a lower court's ruling on Friday, finding that the city of Hopkinsville properly redacted certain information about victims and witnesses in police reports and arrest citations requested by the Kentucky New Era.
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that records related to the investigation of a crime are exempt under the state’s Access to Public Records Act — with no time limit for when the exemption expires.
The Arkansas Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision yesterday confirming that police officers' self-prepared reports – detailing instances where force was used – are subject to public release under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Gawker and the New York Civil Liberties Union have filed a suit seeking records regarding an investigation conducted by the Nassau County Police Department on one of its' officers -- an investigation the popular website alleges was prompted by Fox News journalist Bill O'Reilly who suspected his wife had an affair with the officer.
Voter registration applications are public records under federal law that cannot be withheld from release simply because of an arbitrary promise of secrecy by state officials, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argued in a friend-of-the-court brief filed today.
A decision by Connecticut’s highest court requiring state agencies to redact the addresses of certain officials from public records will hurt watchdog efforts by residents and members of the press, an attorney for the state’s Freedom of Information Commission said.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reject Cuyahoga County’s extreme reproduction fees for electronic real estate records. The friend-of-the-court brief argues that the imposition of six-figure fees to access electronic real estate records will dramatically curtail valuable public-interest reporting on the Ohio real estate market.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday asking a federal appeals court to revisit the U.S. Marshals Service’s “inane” policy of releasing federal suspects’ mug shots based on the requestor’s physical location.
Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Secret Service
RCFP, along with eleven other organizations, signed on to an amicus brief in a case before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia urging the court to find that U.S. Secret Service White House complex visitor logs are "agency records" under the federal Freedom of Information Act and that the Secret Service is required to process a request for such records in compliance with FOIA.