Today in OpenGov: Real talk on open data, breaking embargoes, ¯\_(FEC)_/¯ and more

By The Sunlight Foundation

¯_(FEC)_/¯: After discussing what to do about foreign money being spent in U.S. elections and “scam PACs” today, the Federal Election Commission decided it needed to talk about it more. [READ MORE]

#REALTALK: Sunlight’s Alex Howard spoke at the first White House Open Data Summit yesterday. [READ MORE]

REFLECTING: ProPublica news applications developer Derek Willis shared his thoughts on government and civic technology. [READ MORE]

REGISTER: TransparencyCamp is happening from Oct. 14-15 in Cleveland. Please tune in to #TCamp16 for updates on Twitter, register and submit a session idea! [READ MORE]

• Kurt Eichenwald used interviews, business records and court filings to report that GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s company violated the U.S. embargo on Cuba. [Newsweek]
• Ballot selfies are ok in New Hampshire. “The 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) there was no compelling government need to restrict First Amendment rights and ban voters from disseminating pictures of their ballots or of themselves posed with their ballots.” [Ars Technica]

• Sunlight attended and participated in a Transparency Caucus Briefing last week that looked at how the Obama administration and Congress have approached open government issues in legislative reforms, along with the challenges ahead. Video is embedded above. [OpenTheGov]
• Estonia’s chief information officer visited the Data Transparency Summit and said that U.S. open data is so last century. [Meritalk]
• Here’s six lessons about the Freedom of Information Act that anyone interested or involved in FOIA should read. [CJR]
• Good news for open: a renegotiated Duns and Bradstreet contract eliminates barriers of use within U.S. government for DUNS data and gives the federal government perpetual access to DUNS data. [FCW]

• Greg LaRose wrote up Emily Shaw’s research, reporting on police fines fueling local government the most in Louisiana. [NOLA]
• The Chicago Reader teamed up with MuckRock to use open records requests to document the Chicago Police Department’s secret budget based upon civil forfeitures. [Chicago Reader]
• A new mapping tool from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development helps state and local policymakers to “create regional plans to ensure fair housing and equal opportunity using federal dollars from HUD.” [NextCity]

• Computation and Journalism Symposium at Stanford University on Sept. 30-Oct. 1 in California. [RSVP]
• There will be an Open Data Research Symposium in Madrid on Oct. 5. [RSVP]
• There will also be an Open Cities Summit in Madrid on Oct. 5. Sunlight is involved!. [RSVP]
• The International Open Data Conference will be in Madrid from Oct. 6–7. [RSVP]
• The National Freedom of Information Coalition and the D.C. Open Government Coalition will convene a Freedom of Information summit October 7-8, 2016 in DC. [RSVP]
• TransparencyCamp will be in Cleveland, Ohio from Oct. 14-15. [RSVP]
• The Code for America Summit is in Oakland, Calif. on Nov. 1–3. [RSVP]
• There will be a workshop on Data and Algorithmic Transparency at Columbia University on Nov. 19. [RSVP]
• The Open Government Partnership’s Global Summit will be Dec. 7-9 in Paris, France.

The Sunlight Foundation is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that uses the power of the Internet to catalyze greater government openness and transparency, and provides new tools and resources for media and citizens, alike.