The FOIA blog

ASAP Registration Now Open

Registration for the American Society of Access Professionals FOIA training set for June 21-23 in Washington, D.C. is now open.  More information can be found here.

FOIA training is one of the biggest things people seem to look for on this blog--if you know of any FOIA training opportunities, please feel free to let me know.  I also conduct training-if your organization is in need of specialized FOIA training, feel free to contact me. 

Government Seeks Supreme Court Review of 3rd Circuit Corporate Privacy Decision

Last Fall, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decided in a case brought by ATT against the FCC that Corporations can have privacy protection pursuant to FOIA Exemption 7(C).  This was the first circuit to make this finding, a decision that has huge ramifications in FOIA processing.  For example, a request to the FBI or SEC for records pertaining to Acme Inc. could simply be glomared.

The FOIA blog has learned that the government has now filed for cert before the Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court will now possibly decide if the FOIA treats Corporations the same as individuals and offers these entities the same privacy protections. 

Committee to Protect Journalists FOIA Article

The Committee to Protect Journalists ("CPJ") has this article about the FOIA.  It discusses the Congressional proposals to create a commission to improve FOIA performance, but doesn't really say if it is for it or not--remember the proposed commissions don't do anything by suggest things that could be done to improve the FOIA.  It also says the President's Transparency Initiatives need some muscle to back them up.

I'd like to see the CPJ propose some real steps that could be taken by the government to bolster transparency and FOIA perfomance.  My guess is that telling the public what the muscle should be just isn't sexy enough for an article.

1000 Posts

The FOIA blog has reached 1000 posts.  Since August of 2006, I've followed FOIA legislation, litigation and government wide policy changes.  I've highlighted noteworthy FOIA requests and FOIA releases.  And thankfully, a number of you have checked in on a regular basis to see what was being posted.  So, thanks for reading.  And thanks to those of you who comment and those of you who send me interesting tid bits of information that I can post.

If you are on Facebook, become a fan (I think the Facebook terminolgy has recently changed to saying you like rather than am a fan of) the FOIA blog by clicking on the button on the upper right hand section of the blog.

And don't forget, this isn't my full time job.  That is my legal practice where I actually practice FOIA law.  For more about my practice, see my firm's website.

Once again, thanks for reading the first 1000 posts!  Who knows what will be in the next 1000.

FBI to Accept FOIA Requests Electronically

According to Federal Computer Week, the FBI will now accept FOIA requests electronically. 

The article, however, doesn't say if the FBI has a plan to improve its performance of processing FOIA requests once it has accepted a request electronically.

FOIA Training: Save the Dates

The American Society for Access Professionals has released its upcoming training schedule.  The next training is coming up on June 21, 22 and 23, so save the date.

More information can be found here.

SEC and Porn Part II

A few months ago, I linked to an article about SEC employees who were too busy downloading porn to worry about our nation's troubled economy (or the SEC's FOIA performance).  Here's more on the story--in fact, Sen. Charles Grassley's staff took notice of the issue when the Washington Time's reported its findings from a FOIA request.

Friday FOIA Roundup: New Requests, Supreme Court Cert Petition, Attorney Fees

A look around the FOIA world for the week:

The Project on Government Oversight ("POGO") has made a request for a new database maintained by the government that tracks the performance of all government contractors.  The database is available to government employees, but not the public at large.  It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

H. Ray Lahr is seeking cert before the Supreme Court on his FOIA request to the National Transportation Safety Board concerning TWA Flight 800.  His cert petion can be found here.  It will be interesting to see if any groups file an amicus brief on his behalf. 

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington ("CREW") has been awarded attorney fees in a FOIA case concerning the border fence being erected by the Department of Homeland Security.  The Order is here, CREW's brief is here. [ed. note -- I do legal work for CREW but was not involved in this matter].

Brad Sherman Proposes House FOIA Panel

And now there are two.  Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) has proposed a FOIA commission in the House of Representatives as a stand alone bill.

Why oh why can't a legislator just propose amendments to the FOIA that would make it "faster"? 

Why can't they hold hearings in which they have the actual people processing FOIA requests come in and testify about their jobs and what they'd like to see to make it easier?

Why can't Congress just do an internet search and read my blog and others that provide plenty of ideas for making the FOIA better?

Department of Energy Sued

The American Small Business League has sued the Department of Energy over a FOIA denial.  According to Lloyd Chapman of Huffington Post, this suit is over the Energy Department's denial to release a contract the agency had with Bechtel.  The ASBL says Bechtel isn't a small business, even though it was listed as such in public documents, and wants to learn more about the contract.

The ASBL has recently sued the Small Business Administration in a number of FOIA suits, some of which have been very successful in the release of information.