Opinion: EFF Launches Awards Program For Most Outrageous Failures In FOIA Responses

We've written many stories about ridiculous responses to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests (as well as similar state and local law requests) over the years. I've personally filed a few FOIA requests over the years and have never seen one sufficiently answered in the time limit required by the law.

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Hedge Funds Making Profits Using FOIA Requests, Says New Study

Knowledge is power, but it can also be profitable. According to a recent study by academics at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, Hedge Funds are using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to get access to information that frequently leads to trading profits.

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Judge Orders Form 990s Be Digitalized

An effort to make nonprofit tax forms and data more accessible and searchable online took a potentially big step forward after a judge’s ruling last week.

U.S. District Court Judge William H. Orrick of the Northern District of California gave the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 60 days to comply with a nearly two-year-old Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking Form 990s of nine tax-exempt organizations in a searchable, electronic format.

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Does FOIA cover court records? No, Virginia court administrators say

The Virginia Supreme Court's Office of the Executive Secretary has repeatedly refused a request from the Daily Press to release its compilation of case records from most of the state's circuit courts.

The record the Daily Press sought, and that the Supreme Court used to release, compiles summary information about almost every circuit court case in the state.

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Names from FOIA request voice disapproval at Janesville School Board meeting

More than a dozen residents and two school board members spoke to a large crowd during the citizen comment portion of Tuesday's meeting of the Janesville School Board.

Most were there to question why their names appeared on a recent Freedom of Information Act request made by board member Bill Sodemann. The rest voiced disapproval with the use of partisan politics in the upcoming school board election.

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FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record American’s Whereabouts With License Plate Readers

The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act.

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Judge Rules With The Environmental Protection Agency in FOIA Rebuff

The Environmental Protection Agency does not have documents a law firm sought in a FOIA request, nor is it obligated to obtain them, a federal judge ruled.

 Plaintiff Beveridge & Diamond helps "clients around the world resolve environmental, natural resource, project development and sustainability issues relating to their facilities, products and operations," according to the firm's website.

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BOC clarifies stance on FOIA request

The Kalkaska County Board of Commissioners isn’t retracting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Kalkaska Commission on Aging, just clarifying where the request originated.

At the county board’s regular meeting Jan. 14, District No. 6 Commissioner Craig Crambell said he was upset to learn a FOIA request had been forwarded to the KCOA and was addressed on behalf of the entire board.

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Frerichs won’t disclose sex harassment report on Rutherford

Newly inaugurated Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs refused Tuesday to release a report about sexual harassment allegations against his predecessor, pointing to ongoing legal action.

Frerichs, a Democrat and former state senator who said during his campaign that he wanted to release the investigation into the charges against ex-Treasurer Dan Rutherford, denied a request from The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act filed Jan. 12, the day he took office.

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