Federal Computer Week: Agencies Should Brace for More Public Access to Records
Summary: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a frequent coalition partner of GAP, has launched the Transparency Project – a project that aims to make information it has received through FOIA requests easier to access. The new project will allow users to search for specific documents, issues, and agencies, as well as teach them to create and file their own FOIA requests.
Key Quote: Tom Devine, Legal Director for the Government Accountability Project, a whistleblower protection organization based in Washington, D.C. that has partnered with EFF before, agreed. He said that watchdogs and whistleblowers have organized a very “deep-rooted transparency coalition of public interest groups” that focus on government transparency and accountability – and for good reason.
“The government has a conflict of interest keeping itself accountable,” Devine said. “The key principle for a free society is that information is power, and as a result, our system of checks and balances cannot work credibly unless public nongovernmental organizations are enfranchised in the front line of those checks and balances.”
California Says No to GE Food Labeling After Monsanto, Big Food Ad Campaign
Summary: Despite the concerns of farmers, citizen activists, and other whistleblowers regarding genetically engineered (GE) food, the proposal in California to label these products didn't get the votes needed to pass in Tuesday's election. GAP's Food Integrity Campaign explains the impact of industry's massive marketing campaign against the measure, led by top GE crop producer Monsanto.
Daily Herald (IL): LITH Company Violated Whistleblower Laws, OSHA Says
Summary: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered Northern Illinois Flight Center to reinstate a whistleblower and pay him back wages of more than $500,000. The whistleblower is a pilot who had contacted the Federal Aviation Administration to report violations of the pilot certification process.
The Canadian Press: ORNGE Whistleblower Sues Scandal-Plagued Air Ambulance
Summary: A former employee of a Canadian medical services company has filed a whistleblower suit, claiming she was fired from the air ambulance service for giving police information about the company as part of a criminal investigation.
WFTV Channel 9 (FL): Whistleblower’s Claims Has State Looking into Seminole Co. Company
Summary: An employee of a Florida engineering company has alleged that his bosses have been funneling hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to themselves. The whistleblower made these allegations in a letter to state officials and also asked for whistleblower protection.
The Guardian (UK): Police Commissioner Election Helpline Is Useless, Says Whistleblower
Summary: According to a whistleblower, a UK call center that was set up to provide information on police and crime commissioner elections for those without Internet access is effectively useless. It provides only the names of those running and almost no relevant information about them, and responses are often delayed.
Hannah Johnson is Communications Associate for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.
