University Stonewalling Release of Public Records on Federal Censorship Collusion: Lawsuits
- December 10, 2022
Justin Ethridge, The Michigan Star
The University of Washington is facing several public records requests in the wake of Just the News reporting on its Center for an Informed Public’s role in a Department of Homeland Security-backed private consortium intended to squelch purported election “misinformation.”
Nonprofit watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust filed two Washington Public Records Act lawsuits this week seeking to compel a faster UW turnaround for CIP Director Kate Starbird’s communications with other Election Integrity Partnership leaders and with outside participants, including government entities.
That would mean at least six groups had filed requests related to CIP and EIP, judging by Starbird’s past statements.
UW’s Oct. 18 response to PPT estimated it would take five months to fulfill two requests for Starbird’s communications and hinted it could take longer, pledging to notify PPT if “additional time is needed,” according to the suits filed in King County Superior Court.
The first request names Alex Stamos and Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory, which leads EIP with CIP; Emerson Brooking and Graham Brookie of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab; and Ben Nimmo and Camille Francois of social media analytics firm Graphika.