Chicago Police Department can’t use blanket “investigatory techniques” exemption to deny records regarding controversial social media surveillance technology according to a recent appeal determination by the Illinois Assistant Attorney General.

How do police officers lockdown their online presence? A document released by the Chicago Police Department to Lucy Parsons Labs provides clues.

In response to a FOIA request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s files on Black Panther informant William O’Neal, the Bureau located over 7,000 pages. But actually releasing the documents will cost a duplication fee of $250. You can chip in and help.

Matt Topic, a Chicago-based FOIA attorney, has taken on some of the biggest public records paces of the past few years, managing to win important precedent after precedent. He shares what he looks for when considering litigation, why public records matter, and how he accidentally fell into transparency law in the first place.

In response to a recent public records request, Chicago Police claimed to have no records related to Cellebrite tech used to extract data from cellphones. Which is interesting, considering that CPD had already released that information not even a full two years earlier.