Freedom of Information

The Research Works Act would prevent publicly funded research from automatically being available to the public for free. Private publishers back the bill, while open-access partisans are appalled.

A request for historian William Cronon's emails creates a contest between two cherished American values — seeing inside government's guts and untrammeled inquiry by academics.

The U.S. government has an awkward relationship with social media, praising its use in Egypt and suing in its use for WikiLeaks.