LOGO: Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines. A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman. Winner 2013 Webby Awards for Best Political Website
May 23, 2013

 Choose a size
Text Size

Trending:     chris hedges     economy     elizabeth warren     politics     robert scheer
Most Read

A Call to Action

Bizarre, Apparently Jihadist Slaying in London (Video)

Oklahoma Needs Help, Not Ideology

Hell on Earth for Greeks

Another Memorial Day in This Endless War

Most Comments
Most Emailed

Reports
 * NEW! * Fish Migration Reveals Ocean Warming

Ear to the Ground

A/V Booth

Arts & Culture
 * NEW! * A Call to Action
Act of Congress
Daily Rituals

Digs

Truthdig Bazaar
Fidel Castro Reader

Fidel Castro Reader

by Fidel Castro (Author), David Deutschmann (Editor)
$13.57

more items

 
Ear to the Ground

Spy on the Government

Email this item Email    Print this item Print    Share this item... Share

Posted on Mar 18, 2007

The Freedom of Information Act was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson in 1966, and has proved to be an indispensable tool for our democracy, but negotiating the bureaucracy can be intimidating. Luckily, the Bad Guys blog has collected a helpful assortment of FOIA resources. Check it out and find out what your government is up to.


Bad Guys:

It’s been 40 years since passage of the mother of all information access laws—the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. Given that March 11 marked the start of America’s third annual Sunshine Week—a national effort to cast light onto the growing recesses of government secrecy—U.S. News is again providing links so its readers can file requests for federal records under the FOIA and its sister statute, the Privacy Act. Although the government can be slow in getting back to you, the request process itself is pretty straightforward.

Since the original U.S. act in 1966, 68 countries have passed freedom of information laws. But as we noted last year, in too many countries the presumption remains that all records are secret until officials deem otherwise. In contrast, the U.S. legislation, as generally interpreted, presumes that all government records should be public, unless officials can show very good reasons to exempt them, such as for protecting national security or law enforcement sources. If citizens are not satisfied, they can take the government to court and ask a judge to decide.

Read more

More Below the Ad

Advertisement


New and Improved Comments

If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy.

By Dale Headley, March 19, 2007 at 3:15 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Laws passed to protect ordinary citizens are predicated on the assumption that the nation’s leaders are honorable and law-abiding.  Foolish assumption!

Report this

By trantieungoc, March 19, 2007 at 2:16 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

The FOIA was just a tool for authoritarian power.

Report this

By Bert, March 19, 2007 at 10:46 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

You kind of have to wonder how big the moon base would be that could have been built with all that mental energy, plus 20% of the NFL’s gross takings over the last decade…..

Report this
Newsletter

sign up to get updates


 
 
 
 
Join the Liberal Blog Advertising Network
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.