Com Law Chapter 9

Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA)

A law which mandates transparency, reporting, and viewpoint diversity when private citizens give advice as part of a commission, committees, or advisory body established or utilized by the president or federal agencies in making policy.

Personnel Rules

A FOIA exemption for documents related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency.

Financial Records

A FOIA exemption for documents related to specified reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of agencies which regulate financial institutions.

Oil Field Data

A FOIA exemption for documents revealing oil well data.

Statutory Exemptions

A FOIA exemption for documents specifically exempted from disclosure by statute other than FOIA, but only if the other statute's disclosure prohibition is absolute.

Agency Memoranda

A FOIA exemption for documents that are inter-agency or intra-agency memorandum or letters which would be privileged in civil litigation.

Privacy

A FOIA exemption for documents which are personnel and medical and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

Law Enforcement

A FOIA exemption for documents which are records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only if one or more of six specified types of harm would result.

Trade Secrets

A FOIA exemption for documents which would reveal trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential.

National Defense

A FOIA exemption for national defense or foreign policy information properly classified pursuant to an executive order.

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

A congressional federal agency that assists congress in oversight of budget expenditures.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

A federal law designed to protect the privacy of children's school information.

Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA)

A federal law protecting the privacy of state drivers license information.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

A federal law requiring federal agencies, on request, to disclose agency records unless the information can be kept secret under one of the nine exemptions; records include all documents prepared, used, or kept by the agency pertaining to the public business. Anyone - both average citizens and media professionals - may request information from federal agencies of the executive branch under the FOIA. Requests require the target agency to respond in a timely fashion. If an agency decides to deny a request, it must give explicit reasoning for the denial and cite a specific portion of the FOIA which exempts the agency from responding.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

A federal law which protects the privacy of people's health information.

Child Online Protection Act (COPA)

A law passed in 1998 with the purpose of restricting access by minors to any material defined as harmful to such minors on the Internet. The law, however, never took effect, as three separate rounds of litigation led to a permanent injunction against the law in 2009.

Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)

A law that requires K-12 schools and libraries in use Internet filters and implement other measures to protect children from harmful online content as a condition for federal funding. It was signed into law in 2000 and was found to be constitutional by the Supreme Court in 2003.

Limited Access to News Events

Access to public property is generally permitted Access to military operations (military controls this) Pool reporting (they cover an important meeting, file a report, then the other journalists can use it - circulates from ABC, to CNN, to NBC, to FOX, etc...) Embedded journalists (became a main thing during the Gulf War - mainly second one which led to the war in Iraq)

FOI Statute

All 50 states have some type of access law for records and meetings, but they vary widely in terms of their practical use and enforcement.

Denying Access to Records

Certain information is exempt from the FOIA and sunshine laws where the individual interests in privacy outweigh the public interest in openness. Federal laws prohibit release of information such as driver's license data, educational records, personal health data, and medical records. Student Records (FERPA) Medical Records (HIPAA) Driver's information

Freedom of Access

Conflict between the government's desire to maintain as much secrecy as possible and the media's ability to get that information

Fee Category

Every FOIA request is placed in a fee category which determines if there is a cost to the requester.

Expeditious Handling

FOIA requests are given expedited treatment if the requester is able to demonstrate a compelling need for the requested information.

Record

For the purposes of the FOIA, a letter, map, photograph, audio/video recording or figures, tables, or data used by an agency to keep track of its activities.

Communications Decency Act (CDA)

In 1996, it was the first notable attempt by Congress to regulate pornographic material on the Internet. In 1997, in the landmark cyberlaw case of Reno v. ACLU, the United States Supreme Court struck the anti-indecency provisions of the Act.

Access to Federal Records

Open government laws (Sunshine Act 1976) Freedom of Information Act (aka "FOIA request") (1966, 1996) Federal agency records are presumed open

Protected Health Information (PHI)

The class of individual healthcare information protected by the HIPAA.

Commerce Clause

The constitution gives congress power to regulate trade between the states, with foreign countries, and with Indian tribes. Used to justify the government's constitutional right to control broadcast radio by licensing.

FOIA Exemptions

The government can deny a request and keep information secret if it falls under one of these nine things. National Security (classified information) Internal agency rules and procedures Disclosures forbidden by other statutes Trade secrets Agency memoranda Personal privacy Law enforcement records Financial records Geological information

Sunshine Laws

The same administrative agencies may also be subject to these laws; requires agencies to hold their meetings in public and to provide advance notice of upcoming meetings. Notice should include an agenda of items to be discussed. These laws have exemptions which parallel those under the FOIA. If exempted under these laws, a discussion may be held behind closed doors.

Newsgathering Pitfalls

Trespass Fraud and Misrepresentation Recordings Limiting Access to News Events

Agency

Under FOIA, a federal agency is any executive department, military department, government corporation, government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of government.

Presumption of Disclosure

Under FOIA, requests are presumptively granted unless the government can show that the information falls under one of the nine exemptions.