Research Uses of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act

Field Methods ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond M. Lee
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-59
Author(s):  
Kayla Schwoerer

This study employs social network analysis to examine more than 10,000 Twitter interactions that include the U.S. Freedom of Information Act hashtag (#FOIA) to understand who is engaging online, and to what extent. The analysis finds evidence of a dynamic conversation online among citizens, journalists, advocates, and public agencies. Findings offer insights into how citizens are using social media to engage with government and one another in conversations around important public policies, such as government transparency, as well as how technologies such as social media can be leveraged to better understand citizens’ interest. The study also found a significant increase in tweets during national Sunshine Week, a vehicle that increases national dialogue about FOI, and highlights effective social media strategies employed by MuckRock and other advocacy organizations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Lisa DeLuca

The Freedom of Information Act, FOIA (5 U.S.C. 552), generally provides any person with the statutory right, enforceable in court, to obtain access to government information in executive branch agency records. FOIA does not apply to the judicial or legislative branches of the U.S. government. This right to access is limited when information is protected from disclosure by one of FOIA’s nine statutory exemptions and exclusions.The “Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996” required that agencies needed to make eligible records available electronically. As a result, there are dozens of FOIA Libraries and Electronic Reading Rooms that are repositories for responses to agency FOIA requests. These documents are also known as responsive documents. Documents are often posted by agencies with redactions to protect personal privacy, national security, and other FOIA exemptions and exclusions. It is important for researchers, journalists, and citizens to use the terms “FOIA Libraries” and “Electronic Reading Rooms” as part of their search terminology. This will ensure they can find documents that might not be findable through a regular Google search.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Rose

O Freedom of Information Act americano é gratuito até um número de páginas decidido pelo governo, mas as informações dadas estão sujeitas à censura desnecessária. Como essa supressão se relaciona com o Federal Bureau of Investigation, assumimos que grande parte desse controle de informações deve a sua existência a uma regra em casa, seja de facto ou de jure, que restringe qualquer coisa que mesmo parece que pode voltar a assombrar a agência. O suporte é fornecido por documentos liberados pelo FBI contrastados com os mesmos documentos disponibilizados a partir dos serviços de segurança do Canadá.


2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-113
Author(s):  
Dave Rogers

The US Freedom of Information Act is a tool that can be used with success, but the current climate makes it less effective than it has been in the past. Privacy Acts are set up to protect the citizenry from untoward governmental scrutiny, but even with current legislation in place private collection of information from governmental public record resources and a variety of private resources can compile a relatively complete picture of many individuals in the U.S, from where Dave Rogers from Sidley Austin in Chicago sends us this report.


2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-183
Author(s):  
Erik Esselstrom

This article examines archival evidence related to the abduction and interrogation of the leftwing Japanese writer Kaji Wataru by U.S. military intelligence operatives in Tokyo in the early 1950s. The detention of Kaji became a cause célèbre in December 1952 when he publicly claimed that he had been seized in November 1951 and held against his will until late 1952, some seven months beyond the formal end of the U.S. occupation. Kaji said that U.S. officials had accused him of being a Soviet spy, but he denied those charges vehemently. As both sides presented vastly different versions of what had transpired during Kaji's captivity, the truth of the case became enshrouded within the politics of the early Cold War in East Asia. By exploring the Kaji affair through available archival sources, including two important documents released in 2013 in response to a Freedom of Information Act petition, this article casts new light on the incident and connects it to broader interpretive themes in early postwar U.S-Japan relations.


2001 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Faulkner

Abstract: This paper proffers two parallel and related lines of inquiry: (1) it considers the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a paradigm of all archives and, in that light, (2) it examines the meaning of the citations to Jean Renoir in numerous FBI files released under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. These files provide the evidence of a heretofore ignored political activism on Renoir's part in the United States during the 1940s that must lead us to rethink critical and historical assumptions about his film work during his American period and immediately thereafter. Résumé: Cet article propose deux pistes de recherche parallèles et apparentées : (1) il présente le Federal Bureau of Investigation en tant qu'exemple paradigmatique du fonds d'archives et en ce sens, (2) il examine le sens des références à Jean Renoir dans de nombreux dossiers du FBI rendus publics en vertu de la loi américaine sur l'accès à l'information. Ces dossiers indiquent que contrairement à la croyance jusqu'ici admise, le cinéaste était politiquement engagé aux États-Unis durant les années 1940. Cette nouvelle information impose une réévaluation des présupposés critiques et historiques guidant l'interprétation de son uvre durant son séjour aux États-Unis et par la suite.


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