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RAIN 02/17 Weekly Update: Open Records







London Evening Standard 2/11/02
£10 to see boss's secret files
by Martin Delgado
Employees will be able to demand to see any company record that mentions them, including confidential emails,  handwritten notes and personal files, under an anti-secrecy code designed to increase openness in the office.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=497909&in_review_text_id=459461



The Guardian 2/11/02
£10 buys staff the right to see their files at work
Sarah Hall
Worried about what your boss thinks of you? For £10, you can now demand access to your confidential company records, including emails, it is reported today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,648397,00.html


Financial Times 2/11/02
Editorial comment: You have mail? Hand it over!
Will office etiquette in the UK ever be the same again? The news that staff can now
demand access to virtually all confidential records about them will shock many
managers. Even employers who pride themselves on taking an enlightened, open
approach may balk at being forced to disclose managers' e-mails and doodlings.
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3G86MOKXC


Financial Times 2/12/02
POLITICS & PARLIAMENT: Workers given right to see all files kept on them by their employers
The Independent
BY CHARLES ARTHUR TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
WORKERS WILL be able to see confidential e-mails, written notes and other records kept on them by their employers under new data protection laws.
The rules, which will also allow job applicants to find out what was written about them by interviewers, are contained in the final version of the Information Commission code on employee records. Employers must keep to the rules to avoid criminal liability.
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020212000515&query=data+protection



Financial Times 2/12/02
Are you being watched? They know where you are and what you're up to. But a new code of practice will force employers to show you exactly what they think of you, says Charles Arthur
The Independent
BY CHARLES ARTHUR
IF YOU'RE wondering why you didn't get that job - or that last internal promotion -
then the Data Protection Act is here to help you. Under a code of practice that has
leaked out from the office of the Information Commissioner, Elizabeth France,
employers now by law have to show you copies of all the data they hold about you,
including the handwritten notes that your manager may have written about you
after that unfortunate incident with the photocopier at the office party.
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020212000469&query=data+protection


Associated Press 2/12/02
Judge to White House: Save Records
By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A federal judge directed the White House on Tuesday to save records from energy task force meetings and warned the Bush administration it must take seriously a private group's lawsuit seeking the records.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020213/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cheney_energy_5



Reuters 2/14/02
U.S. judge orders White House to keep energy records
By Peter Kaplan, Reuters
http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/02/02142002/reu_46402.asp



Rocky Mountain News 2/12/02
Divorce records bill advances
Measure would seal most proceedings
By John Sanko, News Capitol Bureau
A plan that would allow Colorado's courts to seal most divorce proceedings won initial Senate approval Monday.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/legislature/article/0,1299,DRMN_37_982378,00.html


Gainesville Sun 2/16/02
Sun Editorial: Shutting out the public
If the Florida Legislature wants to close public records to protect the rich and powerful, its members should just go ahead and say so. It's much better than misleading the public into thinking that changes are being made to the state's widely respected Public Records Act in the name of fighting "identity theft."
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/EDITS/articles/2002-02-16edit1.shtml


Federal Computer Week 2/14/02
Iowa puts court records online
BY Brian Robinson
http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0211/web-iowa-02-14-02.asp


Baltimore Sun 2/11/02
Files not accessed for boy's hearing
Separate systems for adult, youth cases faulted after killing
By Allison Klein
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.juvenile11feb11.story?coll=bal-local-headlines



Townonline.com 1/29/02
City bucks state on public access
Secretary of Commonwealth tells city personnel director to release
training document to press
By DAVID ORTIZ
CHRONICLE STAFF
http://www.townonline.com/metro/cambridge/news/34071608.htm



The Ottawa Citizen 2/08/02
Sloppy bookkeeping thwarts access laws
Departments admit workers no longer take pains to preserve federal paper trail
Jim Bronskill
Many federal records are permanently lost or difficult to find because of a lack of staff, inadequate training and new technology that makes it easy to delete files, government departments candidly admit in a new report.
The deterioration of records management, coupled with the increased pace of the information age, means "public servants are no longer taking the time to ensure the creation of an adequate paper trail," says the report, prepared by a federal task force reviewing the Access to Information Act.
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/arch...ory.asp?id=BF07F6A7-D2DF-4C8D-8248-BA3BD22DA8FE



Bucks County Courier Times 2/11/02
Watchdogs, media say open records bill just a beginning
Much more needs to be done to improve public access to public records, officials
said.
By M.BRADFORD GRABOWSKI
http://www.phillyburbs.com/couriertimes/news/news/0211open.htm



The Tennessean 2/13/02
Judge turns down 'Tennessean' request to open Jackson records
A Nashville judge refused yesterday to order a Dickson County court clerk to release records sealed by another judge in the child abuse case against state Sen. Doug Jackson.
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/02/13701769.shtml?Element_ID=13701769



Springfield News Leader 2/11/02
Sealing of court records draws criticism
By Kelly Doria
News-Leader
Missouri’s tobacco attorneys tried to fight over millions of dollars in secret.
One of the five private firms hired by the state said its share of $111.2 million in
attorneys’ fees wasn’t enough. It filed suit in Greene County last week and tried to keep it from the public. Upon request, Judge J. Miles Sweeney sealed the file, doing just that.
http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/news/record0211.html



Houston Chronicle 2/15/02
Appeals court: Sheriff can't withhold records
Request involves complaints of excessive force
By MARY FLOOD
An appellate court Thursday became the third legal authority to tell Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas to give the Houston Chronicle records of any complaints that deputies used excessive force.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/metropolitan/1256626



Associated Press 2/14/02
Records to Be Released in Yale Slay
By JESSICA BUJOL, Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The state's Freedom of Information Commission voted Wednesday to release more than 4,500 pages of police documents from the investigation into the 1998 slaying of a Yale University student.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020214/ap_on_re_us/yale_student_killed_1


Associated Press 2/15/02
FEC Appeals Records Release Ruling
By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal election regulators Friday challenged a court ruling that bars them from releasing documents showing Democrats coordinated campaign activities with labor union donors.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020215/el/fec_democrats_3.html






Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
pakurilecz@aol.com
Richmond, Va