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After LinkedIn Clues, FOIA Nets New Details On NSA's ANCHORY Program
v3rgEz writes "After the ACLU's Christopher Soghoian highlighted NSA programs listed on LinkedIn, Jason Gulledge filed a request for details about the program — and turned up lucky. The NSA released 7 pages of database descriptions of its ANCHORY program, an open-source intelligence data gathering effort. The NSA's FOIA office said it would pony up more, but only if Gulledge could prove he was requesting the documents as part of a news gathering effort or if he would agree to pay associated fees."
WTH is that about? I'm an American and i want to know what my government is doing. .That should be valid enough of a reason.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
"if he would agree to pay associated fees."
If this isn't a kickstarter that gets funded in 45 minutes, we are doomed as a nation. Finally, a way for Kickstarter to get back in the good graces of the internet after that whole "Veronica Mars" thing.
Actually, these days the government decides who is a journalist and who is not.
If is open source, under which license? If is agpl, as is used on all of us, should it be released to public?
Anyway, is not that US government cares about intellectual property of others.
I think RMS' head just exploded.
Complying with FOIA requests can be expensive, especially for an organization like the NSA which will have to conduct a thorough review to make sure nothing's classified. The FOIA permits agencies to charge fees to cover these expenses (see foia.gov's description of costs). When disclosure of the information is "in the public" interest, the agency can waive these fees.
A blogger likely would qualify as press for this purpose (but he'd still have to request the waiver). The FOIA has this provision to try to make sure that agencies don't spend inordinate time and money complying with requests that are just for the financial gain of the company/person making them.
Journalist = persons who transmit info from a government authorized leaker
Not a journalist = person who transmits info from non-government authorized leaker
"or if he would agree to pay associated fees."
FOIA does allow for this - it's not carte blanche to bankrupt the government with stupid requests for metric tons of paper. FOIA has always allowed for this - they will often waive the fees for 'news stories,' but will charge fees associated with the processing of the requests for private requests.
A journalist is a person who reports things that people don't want reported. Anything else is public relations.
They complied with the request, they sent him the information, and they told him that he could get more. As part of a FOIA request, the agency can charge a fee, http://www.foia.gov/faq.html#cost.
There is no initial fee required to submit a FOIA request, but the FOIA does provide for the charging of certain types of fees in some instances. For a typical requester the agency can charge for the time it takes to search for records and for duplication of those records. There is usually no charge for the first two hours of search time or for the first 100 pages of duplication.
They say that they will waive the fee if the information is in the public interest, and that the requester has no financial interest in the matter, http://www.foia.gov/faq.html#fees. In short, this rule appears to exist to narrow the search.
You may request a waiver of fees. Under the FOIA fee waivers are limited to situations in which a requester can show that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations and activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.
These rules are quite reasonable and appear to exist so that you can't just say "Tell me everything that the NSA knows about semantic processing" and expect the taxpayer to foot the bill. His request appears to be of the "tell me everything about this project" nature, which can be a time-consuming effort. They prepared a 7-page manuscript for him, with his/our taxpayer dollars. I find their actions reasonable.
And he should definitely make that argument. As long as the disclosure is "in the public interest" and "not for the commercial benefit of the requester," the FOI Officer can opt to reduce or waive the FOIA processing fees. See the rules at: http://www.hhs.gov/foia/45cfr5.html#Subd
Alternately, he could start a Kickstarter project, and ask for donations. I bet there'd be plenty of people who would contribute a few bucks to covering the processing fees the NSA is asking for.