The day before adjourning for August recess, the Senate unanimously approved S.849, the OPEN Government Act, a bipartisan bill that is the first significant update to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in more than a decade. When Congress is back in session, a conference will reconcile the differences between this bill and similar legislation passed by the House of Representatives in March.

Among other things, the legislation will strike a blow to government secrecy by:

  • Ensuring that freelance and alternative journalists are treated as members of the media under the FOIA, which entitles them to reduced fees.
  • Establishing a system to make it easier to track FOIA requests so that they don't become lost in government bureaucracy.
  • Creating an ombudsman's office within the National Archives to help resolve conflicts between agencies and requesters.
  • Encouraging agencies to reduce processing delays and avoid litigation.
  • Imposing greater reporting requirements to let Congress and the public know more about how agencies handle requests.

    • Revelations about the FBI's misuse of a key PATRIOT Act power and other privacy-invasive initiatives clearly demonstrate the importance of government transparency. This law will make it easier for EFF's FOIA Litigation for Accountable Government (FLAG) project and other FOIA requesters to keep the government accountable to the people.

    Related Issues

    Transparency

    Related Updates

    Transparency issue banner, a colorful graphic of a magnifying lens over some paper folders
    Deeplinks Blog by Karen Gullo | May 23, 2024

    NETMundial+10 Multistakeholder Statement Pushes for Greater Inclusiveness in Internet Governance Processes

    A new statement about strengthening internet governance processes emerged from the NETMundial +10 meeting in Brazil last month, strongly reaffirming the value of and need for a multistakeholder approach involving full and balanced participation of all parties affected by the internet—from users, governments, and private companies to civil society, technologists,...

    Legal Case

    Entropic Communications, LLC v. Charter Communications, Inc.

    When patent holders use public courts to try to enforce their rights, they do not get to fully shut out the public from those disputes. EFF has repeatedly intervened in patent litigation seeking to vindicate the public's presumptive rights to access court proceedings and records in patent disputes, particularly those...

    2023 Year in Review (text animated to change colors)
    Deeplinks Blog by Cindy Cohn | December 21, 2023

    2023 Year in Review

    Digital rights started as a niche, future-focused issue that we would struggle to explain to nontechnical people. Now it's deeply embedded into all of our lives. This movement is possible thanks to the strong partnership of EFF's members, supporters, and all of you who stood up and took action to...