Freedom of Information Act

Federal Agents Used Controversial Trackers Without Warrants

Controversial devices used to track cell phones and mobile Internet devices were used by local federal law enforcement without the necessary permission from a judge, according to recent e-mails. Federal investigators in Arizona have been taken to court over the use of "stingrays," electronic devic ... More >>

Old Radicals

S.F. Group Sues Over Predator Drone Privacy Rules

Do thoughts of miniature helicopters hovering and peeking into your bedroom keep you up at night? Maybe you are worried about Uncle Sam seeing what you do when nobody is watching? Well, so is the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based digital civil liberties group that filed a lawsui ... More >>

President Obama Says White House Beer Recipe Will Be "Out Soon"

Last week we urged you to sign the petition on the White House website to release the recipe for White House Honey Ale, brewed on the premises with honey from the beehive near Michelle Obama's kitchen garden. That same week, a diligent home brewer on Reddit filed a Freedom of Information Act Request ... More >>

Sign a Petition to Release the White House Honey Ale Recipe

Good news, home brewing fans: You could be brewing the same beer as President Barack Obama in a few months. Last week the news broke that the White House brews three varieties of its own beer on the premises -- White House Honey Ale, White House Honey Blonde Ale and White House Honey Porter -- all ... More >>

Operation Midnight Climax: How the CIA Dosed S.F. Citizens with LSD

S.F. Civil Liberties Group Wants Feds to Stop Being So Secretive about Drones

​The Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing the U.S. Department of Transportation, claiming that the feds are withholding important details about drones -- the unmanned aircraft used in the military --  and under what circumstances public and private entities be allowed to use them. Accordin ... More >>

Mayor Ed Lee, Police Say Feds Didn't Order Them to Evict Occupy SF

Officials maintain the decision to evict Occupiers was from City Hall, not Washington. ​Both Mayor Ed Lee and San Francisco police deny that they received marching orders from any federal agency to evict Occupy SF protesters and arrest resisters at Justin Herman Plaza on December 7. SF Weekly requ ... More >>

Nonprofit Wants to Know if CIA Is Responsible for Evicting Occupy Camps

We can only imagine how hard it is to collect intelligence from the CIA​That's been the rumor circulated among groups of Occupiers who were rousted from their encampments over the last month --  from New York to San Francisco -- as they protested Wall Street and its big banks.   The Part ... More >>

Was Anonymous Responsible for Taking Down News Site?

Anonymous wants to have control over the media's talking points ​Last week, we told readers about how the political news site Talking Points Memo mysteriously went offline after it published the mugshots of Anonymous hackers who had been arrested for their alleged attack on Paypal. Over the weeken ... More >>

News Website Down After Publishing Mugshots of Anonymous Hackers

Not so tough without the mask​Bay Area commuters, fresh off yet another BART protest and downtown San Francisco station shutdown last night, might be interested to see some of the faces behind the shadowy hacking group that has helped organize repeated demonstrations against the transit agency.The ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Patients Sue Federal Government

Stoners aren't the only ones who are slow to react ​We all know that the wheels of government move slowly -- but nine years slowly? That pace is too lazy for Americans for Safe Access, which just wants answers. So it's going to court to force the federal government to get some response.At issue is ... More >>

Hillary Clinton Sued by S.F. Environmental Group Over Alleged Oil Pipeline Project Bias

Playing favorites?​Environmental groups are going after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, worried that she's allowing Washington lobbyists close to her get away with building a massive oil pipeline from Canada to Texas.Friends of the Earth, a nonprofit with offices in Washington, D.C. and San Fr ... More >>

Seth Rosenfeld, S.F. Reporter, Sues FBI to Get Records on Militant Activist Richard Masato Aoki

Richard Masato Aoki would have wanted those records released​Nearly 10 years ago, local journalist Seth Rosenfeld garnered fame for his scathing series "The Campus files: Reagan, Hoover, and the UC Red Scare," which uncovered the FBI's conspiracy to harass UC Berkeley students and faculty during t ... More >>

New Questions Raised About State's Imported Lethal Injection Drugs

​Newly released documents raise questions about the quality of drugs imported from abroad by state corrections officials to carry out lethal injections, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.The documents, obtained by the ACLU through Freedom of Information Act (FO ... More >>

Judge Says TSA Doesn't Have to Turn Over Body Scan Images to Civil Liberties Group

TSA Doesn't Want to Reveal What It's Revealing​As it turns out, when Big Brother is watching he doesn't have to reveal what he sees.In the latest chapter of TSA v. The rest of America, a federal judge ruled that the Transportation Security Administration doesn't have to turn over the 2,000 images ... More >>

Cosco Busan Operators Agree to Pay San Francisco Fishermen $3.65 Million

The hull of the Cosco Busan following its 2007 accident​Two international shipping companies have agreed to pay San Francisco's commercial fishermen $3.65 million in damages for an oil spill that occurred after the Cosco Busan container ship crashed into the Bay Bridge in 2007.The settlement, anno ... More >>

Travel writer Edward Hasbrouck sues Homeland Security over travel data

Department of Homeland Security Sued Over Secret Traveller Files

Matt SmithWe'll collect all this personal information, y'see. And then we'll make a giant database...​San Francisco travel writer Edward Hasbrouck has sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over what he says is the agency's refusal to give a complete accounting of secret files detailing his ... More >>

Larry Bush, HUD Spokesman, Sues Agency: Claims Violations of Anti-Secrecy Laws

​Larry Bush, a former aide to San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos once known as The Dark Prince of City Hall has sued his current employer, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The 64-year-old veteran San Francisco politico claims he was instructed by a supervisor to violate federal ope ... More >>

Dead Sea

An unpublished study shows the surprisingly lethal effects of the Cosco Busan oil spill. Why are government scientists helping the ship's owner keep it a secret?

Lawyer: Thousands of Legally Parked S.F. Cars Dubiously Towed

Back off, pal!​Last week we reported on San Francisco parking celebrity John J. Riley, who filed a class-action suit claiming the city improperly towed his car -- and legions of others. The crux of the case is this: The city claims it has the right to haul off legally parked private vehicles after ... More >>

Local Blogger Takes (Some) Credit For FBI Release Of Michael Jackson Files

via flickr by Bernissimo Sunshine act​The FBI finally released hundreds of pages of classified documents related to pop star icon Michael Jackson, who died in August, detailing various investigations, including threats of a terrorist attack against Jackson. And local rabble-rouser Michael ... More >>

Sacto Mayor Makes Out Like Bandit After Suffering Theft: Gavin Newsom Has Purloined Property Hand-Delivered to Capital -- Along With Swag Bag!

It wasn't this suit...​Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson -- whose garment bag was snatched and, improbably, recovered recently in San Francisco -- received San Francisco's sincerest apologies from Mayor Gavin Newsom's office. Newsom's "friends" (that's what it said on the press release) hand-delivere ... More >>

Time Bomb

Weather Underground leaders claimed their bombings were devised to avoid bloodshed. But FBI agents suspect the radical '70s group killed an S.F. cop in the name of revolution.

Misdeeds

An investor finds that he has been swindled, and that the schemer was aided by a mortgage industry lacking oversight.

Classified Information

Paper Trails

One World, Under Gorby

Gorbachev Foundation prez Jim Garrison has something special in mind for San Francisco in September, an international palaver at the Fairmont Hotel. After that, a seat for himself in the U.S. Senate. And then, who knows? Chancellor of the world?