Feds Demand Over Half A Million Dollars To Fulfill A Freedom Of Information Act Request

from the well-that's-one-way-to-avoid-it dept

Wed, Nov 11th 2009 11:03am — Mike Masnick

When President Obama took office, one of the very first things he did was declare that all government agencies should default towards openness in dealing with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. It looks like some are trying to sneak around that a bit. Wired has the story of an FOIA request where the government is demanding $522,886 in order to fulfill the request. This certainly gives off the appearances of pretending to be open while figuring out a nice way to toss up a huge roadblock. Oh, by the way, that single bill would just about equal the entire cost that the US gov't charged for all FOIA responses in 2008. Why so expensive? That's not particularly clear. Apparently, the guy filing the request even knows which file cabinets the information he needs is in, so it's not like the gov't has to go searching for it...

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Filed Under: freedom of information, transparency

31 Comments

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Brendan (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 10:11am

So, let's make it a big issue
... and git'r solved.

Enough negative PR should push that request right through, I hope.
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 11:11am

Re: So, let's make it a big issue
"Enough negative PR should push that request right through, I hope."

... thru to the CIA--and shortly thereafter a man with an icepick and incredibly thorough knowledge of explosives and poisons will drop by this guys house and have a nice little chat with him...

*(For those of you who can't tell--that's some satire right there.)

I'm glad this is getting a press time.
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Nastybutler77 (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 11:22am

What a surprise
WHAT?!? Obama isn't following through on a campaign promise? Who would have thought?

/sarcasm
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Rebel Freek (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 11:29am

Re: What a surprise
Obviously you did not have him serve as your senator...

/more sarcasm...
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Dark Helmet (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 11:48am

Re: Re: What a surprise
"Obviously you did not have him serve as your senator..."

Are you shitting me? NO ONE remembers him serving as their Senator. He was in office for what...10 minutes? And for 9 of those minutes he was campaigning for his presidency....
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Overcast (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 12:09pm

You want info - PAY US - capiche?
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tikkiggodd (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 12:13pm

Re: Re: Re: What a surprise
LOL so true... you'd think he served in Chicago for years the way they trumpet him around there.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2009 @ 12:17pm

FOIA says you have to make certain types of documents available. The act also says you can ask a reasonable price for reproduction of said material i.e. copy cost you can not charge for labor in assembling, the person also has the right to go to the facility and look at it there with no charge. Who knows what this person is asking for it could be millions of pages long.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2009 @ 12:17pm

FOIA or PIA?
Sounds like the Paid Information Act to me.
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seriously?, 11 Nov 2009 @ 12:28pm

Re: So, let's make it a big issue
Sorry Brendan, I can't take anyone seriously that uses the word "git'r"
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Captain Obvious, 11 Nov 2009 @ 12:48pm

So why hasn't a FOIA request been made for those telco lobbying records? Or has there been?
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zbeeblebrox, 11 Nov 2009 @ 1:00pm

So..what happens if someone were to file a FOIA request to find out why filing for FOIA requests are so expensive?
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Dark Helmet (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 1:09pm

Re:
"So..what happens if someone were to file a FOIA request to find out why filing for FOIA requests are so expensive?"

Hilary Clinton shoots you...in the wiener.
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zbeeblebrox, 11 Nov 2009 @ 1:11pm

So..what happens if someone were to file a FOIA request to find out why filing for FOIA requests are so expensive?
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Shawn (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 1:35pm

Re: Re:
you owe me a cup of coffee and a new keyboard
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Nastybutler77 (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 1:35pm

Re:
There hasn't been just a FOIA request for the telco lobby records; there's a court order. Even that hasn't stopped the administration from stalling. I LOVE the new transparency! What a breath of fresh air! I can't stop using sarcasm and exclamation points!
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2009 @ 1:46pm

Re: Re:
Hillary is a good shot too, just ask Bill.
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wnyght, 11 Nov 2009 @ 2:02pm

Re: Re: Re:
there's a law suite for that
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Maddog, 11 Nov 2009 @ 2:52pm

Re: Re: Re:
Bill is not, however, his errant shot nearly cost him his presidency.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2009 @ 2:52pm

Re:
The act also says you can ask a reasonable price for reproduction of said material...

And then it leaves it up to the agency's whim to decide what constitutes "reasonable".

the person also has the right to go to the facility and look at it there with no charge.

Citation, please.
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2009 @ 3:09pm

If you listen real carefully, you can hear an anus tearing.
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Anonymouse, 11 Nov 2009 @ 6:57pm

Re: Re: Re:
Killary is a good shot.. Ask Vince Foster..
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harbingerofdoom (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 7:40pm

ah... can you feel the change in the air? its such a breath of fresh air to have thrown off the oppressive shackles the previous administration had bound us in...

...wait...what?
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Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2009 @ 9:00pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Err... No, it didn't. He finished his term. Nice try, though!
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ChadBroChill (profile), 11 Nov 2009 @ 9:47pm

Re: Re: Re:
Better than Cheney I hope
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cKarlGo, 12 Nov 2009 @ 4:51am

Obamapocrisy
That pretty much says it all.
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Overcast (profile), 12 Nov 2009 @ 6:49am

"So..what happens if someone were to file a FOIA request to find out why filing for FOIA requests are so expensive?"

Hilary Clinton shoots you...in the wiener.

She can...

After all - dodge bullets in Iraq - I seen it on a video! ;)
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NO!, 12 Nov 2009 @ 7:43am

Re: Re:
In the government there's cost based accounting. That means if they ask for a half mil to fulfill the request, they better spend a half mil to fulfill the request, or they get their whole budget submission cut the next year.

There are also exemptions for information which means it's not accessible via FOIA. If the information being requested is covered by an exemption, to invalidate the exemption it would have to go through legal review. And even for FOIA info most of the time it still has to go through the release office to be cleared for sensitive data.

This sounds like 4 man years to deal with FOIA requests and that could easily be the case if the information is spread across 30 employees or if the info has an FOIA exemption on it.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2009 @ 10:06am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Hence the word "nearly".
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2009 @ 11:10am

Re: Re: Re:
In the government there's cost based accounting. That means if they ask for a half mil to fulfill the request, they better spend a half mil to fulfill the request,

And you think that might somehow be a problem? If there's one thing the gov't is good at, it's spending money.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Nov 2009 @ 4:32pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Like we say around my office: If we can't add value, we can at least add cost.
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