ICOG

Indiana Coalition for Open Government is a non-profit group that promotes legislative reform and protects the right of access to public records and meetings.

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

The agency sent me more than a dozen pages of emails that offer some answers. The communications call into question the Trump administration’s pronouncement that it’s “the most transparent administration in American history.”

https://t.co/MEf2b83xbM

#opengov

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

The City of Carmel infringed on state law while withholding public records showing it paid half a million dollars to a city employee in a settlement, according to a judge’s ruling in a legal battle between the city and...

https://t.co/qvMvEqrvoB

#opengov #publicrecords

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

This is why public records are important. Narratives change constantly.

"Amazon is requesting to dewater or drain 35-million gallons of water per day at their construction site into the Nespodziany..."

https://t.co/USSdeb0mul

#opengov #amazon #stjosephcounty #drainageboard

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

Looking forward to seeing the papers.

"This symposium will explore the legal, empirical, and normative dimensions of secrecy and transparency in the civil justice system. "

https://t.co/ddOWVKsGlR

#transparency #litigation #opengov

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

"The documents, obtained through a public records request, show that state officials and vendors had been working on updates to the “proof of residency” component of the e-poll book system since at least September 2025."

https://t.co/FfJgUMVSNv

#opengov #election2026

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

"I recently attended a public meeting about the news landscape in Indianapolis, and a member of the audience pointed out how often regular citizens use public records and open door laws."

Here's to the regular people taking up the fight!

https://t.co/7pw7ZiFeW8

#opengov

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

And this free event is tomorrow, March 20th:

Friday , March 20, 2026
1:00 pm - 1:30 pm ET

Take Action: How to Write a Public Comment on Federal Data

https://t.co/kooeE6IAbM

#opengov #civics

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

This is an interesting project:

How to Use POGO’s Census Funding Data,
A guide to using and interpreting POGO’s Census Matters federal funding data.

https://t.co/U5QPodUckH

#data #opengov

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

Invisible Institute has released a new version of the National Police Index.

The NPI is a data tool to help communities, journalists, researchers and attorneys track police officer employment/police officers in their state.

https://t.co/yXecM52lnO

#opengov #sunshineweek

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

What a fun event for Sunshine Week: D.C. Open Government Coalition Sunshine Week Summit, Whose Information Is It Anyway?

Every State should do their own version of Wait, Wait Don’t FOIA Me, with unsettling FOIA officer responses!

https://t.co/aaiLXWrQ0Y

#opengov #sunshineweek

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

An Indiana public records fight went to court. The journalists (and the public) won!

"Niki Kelly wanted to know how much money Indiana spends to buy the drugs they use to execute prisoners."

https://t.co/VmGDjHx8vh

#opengov #transparency #indiana #apra

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

What info will the government want access to?
---
Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses

In an internal memo last year, Meta said the political tumult in the United States would distract critics from the feature’s release.

https://t.co/CPk8BRq81U

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

Read the full article from Columbia Journalism Review: https://t.co/sZfWuNlxYc

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

This was happening back in 2024, too. How do you fend off these types of requests? Some might say with more automated systems.
---
Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests

https://t.co/zcjchnwTMw

#opengov

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

We're entering a new era, it seems, everywhere.
---
How ‘Pink Slime’ Publishers Are Weaponizing FOIA

Metric Media filed more than nine thousand public records requests last year. It used the data to target Democratic politicians and private...

https://t.co/jGWP84ocwU

#opengov

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

The presenter expressed little concern that the regulatory documents produced by AI could contain so-called hallucinations — erroneous text that is frequently generated by large language models such as Gemini — according to three people present.

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

What could go wrong with a legal and bureaucratic system infested with AI slop?

"Government by AI? Trump Administration Plans to Write Regulations Using Artificial Intelligence"

https://t.co/FYTmdPLJjp

#opengov #federalgovernment #ai

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

The Transportation Department, which oversees the safety of airplanes, cars and pipelines, plans to use Google Gemini to draft new regulations. “We don’t need the perfect rule,” said DOT’s top lawyer. "We want good enough."

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

Wouldn't it be great if every public agency was proactive with posting their lobbying contracts?

"Fresno City Council unanimously adopted a plan to post lobbying contracts on the city’s website on Thursday in an effort to increase transparency."
https://t.co/IbQJwRRHzi

#opengov

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

And data scraping on sites would not be necessary if public agencies posted machine-readable formats like CSV, JSON, SQL, etc.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful amendment to this bill? Instead of trying to patchwork a defense, solve the real problem and proactively publish data.

[ICOG @IndianaOpenGov]

HB1360 is a bill searching for a problem.

One major flaw is the definition of data scraping. By its very nature, if you can scrape the data, you don't need to make a public records request. It's already available on the web.

Your thoughts?

https://t.co/DLXOGzB65M

#opengov