<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">In 2011, OSGeo signed an amicus ("friend of the court") brief to the California Supreme Court as part of a case involving public access to governmental GIS data.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">I'm pleased to say that yesterday the Court unanimously <span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; ">affirmed the public's right of access in this case.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; "><br></span></div><div>Bruce Joffe, one of the organizers of the amicus effort, wrote:</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; "><br></span></div><div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; ">"</span>Your endorsement of the GIS Amicus Brief substantially helped win this case. […] This is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, in which the GIS community is called upon to lend its expertise and participation to defend and extend our democratic rights and professional integrity. Liberty requires vigilance. Working together, our efforts can make a difference."</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">old news: <a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OrangeCounty_Amicus">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OrangeCounty_Amicus</a></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; ">new news: <a href="http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/mainCaseScreen.cfm?dist=0&doc_id=1985061&doc_no=S194708">http://appellatecases.courtinfo.ca.gov/search/case/mainCaseScreen.cfm?dist=0&doc_id=1985061&doc_no=S194708</a></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><br></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; "><div>-mpg</div><div><br></div></div></body></html>