MuckRock has used public records and a growing community of concerned citizens to investigate these growing uses and abuses of technology by police departments, schools, and other government agencies. Contributing to greater transparency only takes a minute, just long enough to let us know that you care about knowing what’s happening in your town.

With Sunshine Week just around the corner, we wanted to count down the days to our favorite time of year with a closer look at what’s going on behind the black bars: the nine federal FOIA exemptions. Today, b(6): the privacy exemption.

One of the frustrating ironies to come out of efforts to collect information on domestic violence is that sometimes the laws meant to protect victims get in the way of obtaining data that could be used to improve services to them.

For the legal world of the living, the deceased generally lack a right to privacy, their government records suddenly subject to disclosure. But in each state, laws limit what can be released to whom.

With a New York Judge upgrading the warrant requirement for a cell site simulator from probable cause to eavesdropping, it is important to take a look back at our census and the data researchers have compiled about these invasive surveillance tools.