Transparency

Media advocates are concerned about a federal court order that compels two technology companies involved in a drawn-out patent infringement lawsuit to disclose the names of writers they paid to comment about the case.

Google and Oracle, a computer technology corporation, have until Friday to identify any journalists or bloggers they paid for writing about the case, ruled Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco.

Requests from government agencies in the U.S. to remove Internet content and reveal more information about online users continues to rise, reflecting a similar trend around the world, according to Google's Transparency Report released Sunday.

The biannual report found that in the U.S. from July to December 2011, government agencies -- including local, state and federal government offices -- requested the removal of 6,192 items posted online and information from 12,243 Google user accounts.

A federal court last week rejected a copyright infringement lawsuit against Bloomberg L.P. for its unauthorized publication of a conference call between a corporation's senior executives and a group of securities analysts, finding that the business and financial news publisher was protected from liability by the fair use doctrine.

In the first movement toward transparency in the tightly sealed trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the man accused of leaking thousands of classified documents to the website WikiLeaks, the court granted the defense permission to publish redacted versions of court filings online. But first, the government will have a chance to review, redact and bring up any concerns with the documents before they are released to the public.

The importance of streamlining agency efforts to fill federal Freedom of Information Act requests was the hot topic at a subcommittee hearing yesterday of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Transparency and government adherence to the federal Freedom of Information Act was under scrutiny at a U.S. Senate Judiciary hearing Tuesday morning.

Despite President Barack Obama’s promise for more transparency in government, the administration has a long way to go, according to experts at a open government conference held in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

An estimated 100 journalists, watchdog group employees, media lawyers and government representatives attended the day-long "Transparency in the Obama Administration" conference hosted by the American University Washington College of Law.

Open government organizations praised what they called sweeping commitments to promote government transparency and accountability in an action plan released by President Obama last week, but many said they were cautious in their optimism that the pledge alone would be enough to bring historical change to the culture of secrecy in Washington.

The White House released a report today detailing efforts the Obama administration has made to government transparency. Watchdogs largely praised administration efforts but said true change could take more time.