The Defense Department spent $70,500 to produce a Humphrey
Bogart-themed video called "The People's Right to Know" to teach
employees to respond to citizen requests for information. But when it
came to showing the tape to the public, the Pentagon censored some of
the footage. Officials said they blacked out parts of the training
video with the message, "copyrighted material removed for public
viewing," because they were worried the government didn't have legal
rights to some historical footage that was included. Citing the U.S.
Freedom of Information Act, The Associated Press asked the Pentagon for
a copy of the video nearly 18 months ago. The Defense Department
released an edited version of the tape and acknowledged the irony of
censoring a video promoting government openness.
"We knew it would be embarrassing," said Suzanne Council of the Army
Office of the Chief Attorney, which gave advice to censor the scenes
because of copyright concerns. [more ]
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