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Overview >
National FOIA Hall of
Fame
National FOI Day is an annual, daylong program of speaking and discussion
by specialists in various aspects of freedom of information, updating
developments in FOI over the preceding year.
2006 National FOI Day Conference
This year’s conference, “FOIA at Forty: The Past’s Lessons for the Future,”
was held on Thursday, March 16, at the Freedom Forum’s World Center in
Arlington, Va. The symposium brought together access advocates, government
officials, lawyers, librarians, journalists, educators and others to discuss the
latest issues and developments in freedom of information.
This eighth annual FOI Day conference was sponsored by the First Amendment
Center in cooperation with the American Library Association. Additionally, as we
celebrate the 40th anniversary of the federal Freedom of Information Act,
Sunshine Week, which ran March 12-18, co-sponsored the conference. 2006 program agenda
Conference coverage
Remarks
Audio from conference
2006 FOI updates
Conference
speakers' bios
National FOIA Hall of Fame
inductees
New reports and other
publications
Sunshine Week '06
For information from previous National FOI Day programs, see cases
& resources.
Directions
to conference
FOI Day history
The idea of a National FOI Day to be observed on March 16 in honor of James Madison’s birthday emerged in the late 1970s. For a number of years, the National Press Club hosted a FOI program on different dates, but that program became subsumed by other interests in the early 1990s.
In 1993, Paul McMasters convened a “National Freedom of Information Summit” at the First Amendment Center in Nashville, bringing together most of the major players on FOI, right to know and government secrecy. That two-day conference resulted in a report titled “Battling for an Open Government.”
In 1996, working with the American Society of Newspaper Editors, McMasters convened another summit at the Freedom Forum on FOIA’s 30th anniversary called “Sunshine & Secrecy: The FOIA Turns 30.”
The first official National FOI Day conference was held at the Freedom Forum on March 16, 1999, and has continued ever since.
Related
'We're in a new era of secrecy'
By Taylor Holliday National FOI Day conference speakers weigh national security, public's right to know. 03.18.04
Nationwide information clampdown frustrates average citizens
Security, privacy fears tip balance against Freedom of Information Act presumption that government records should be open to public. 03.13.05
2005 National FOI Day conference
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Floyd Abrams to speak at event on 'Congress and the Courts: Confronting Secrecy.' 03.15.05
Openness must govern government, Sen. Cornyn says
By Eugenia Harris Democracy requires 'informed consent' afforded by open government, Texas Republican tells conference. 03.17.05
Access faces formidable foe in privacy fears
By Eugenia Harris FOI Day panelists wrangle with what sorts of information should be readily available to public. 03.18.05
FOIA advocates named to national hall of fame
News release Twenty-one champions of open government to be inducted on National FOI Day, March 16. 03.08.06
Challenge to government: Stop shutting off info
By Eugenia Harris Former State Department spokesman Hodding Carter charges journalists to work harder against official secrecy. 03.16.06
President's open-records order: working or worse?
By Eugenia Harris Panelists debate whether effect of executive order helps or hinders freedom of information. 03.16.06
2005 FOI update: federal legislation
Update on FOI-related congressional legislation over the past year for 2005 National FOI Day conference. 03.15.05
‘Strange Bedfellows: Reconciling Privacy & Freedom of Information’
Speech by Lee Levine at National FOI Day conference, March 16, 2005. 03.16.05
National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame
‘FOI and the Consent of the Governed’
Speech by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, at National FOI Day conference, March 16, 2005. 03.17.05
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Last system update:
Friday, March 24, 2006 | 16:36:04
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