ABSTRACT
In the 1970s, the doors to records, places, and especially the judicial and non-judicial processes began to open, thanks to a series of US Supreme Court rulings and a flurry of state open record laws and the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The strongest damage to the FOIA's attempt to broaden public access to government records may have been inflicted by the three US Supreme Court privacy-related decisions. Under the Driver's Privacy Protection Act, which took effect in 1997, severe restrictions were imposed on the release by the states of personal information from motor vehicle records, driver's licenses, and auto registrations. Access to meetings of federal, state, and local governmental agencies is no longer a major problem for the mass media. Since Congress passed the Government in the Sunshine Act, which took effect on March 12, 1977, the meetings of all major federal agencies have been open to the press and to the public.
