I agree
Voting is Disabled

47 votes

I disagree

Rank1102

Idea#253

This idea is active.
Making Data More Accessible »

Use their FOIA logs to identify types or categories of information & post that information online without waiting for a FOIA req

Why Is This Idea Important?: Agencies are interpreting the existing statutory requirement (see the 1996 FOIA amendments) to mean specific documents that have been released under FOIA may be made available online. This should be interpreted more broadly to mean that categories of information subject to FOIA requests, not just those particular records subject to the FOIA request, should be affirmatively available online. Federal agencies are likely to make a great deal of information available in response to the OGD in the context of government services or topical subjects (e.g., clean water, licensing records). FOIA logs can help identify categories of information of interest to the public.

Instruct agencies to post more information online based on requests from the public and frequently requested categories of information requested under FOIA.

Tags:

Submitted by Sunshine in Government Initiative 2 years ago

Vote Activity Show

Comments (2)

  1. silona said:

    and let's make it citable! that way I can complain specifically about my request in my blog post when my request takes more than 2 yrs!

    we could also make it restful so that we can produce reports about the sorry state of FOIA requests too!

    citability.pbworks.com

    2 years ago
    0
    0
  2. owen said:

    The E-FOIA Amendments already require agencies to: a) make available by electronic means any record requested by anyone that is likely to be of interest to others, and b) to take reasonable steps to maintain records in whatever formats they are likely to be requested. http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foia_updates/Vol_XVII_4/page2.htm

    What is lacking are means of tracking and reporting agency performance in complying with the law.

    2 years ago
    0
    0