Since Snowden Leaks, NSA's FOIA Requests Are Up 1,000 Percent

Posted by samzenpus on Monday October 7, 2013 @09:04AM from the checking-the-list dept.

v3rgEz writes "A veritable FOIA frenzy ensued in 2013 following a series of leaks about NSA surveillance programs, recently released documents show. From June 6 to September 4, the National Security Agency's FOIA load increased 1,054 percent over its 2012 intake. In that three-month span, the agency received 3,382 public records requests. For comparison, the NSA received just 293 requests over the same period in 2012. While a few have netted new details about NSA surveillance operations, such as a contract with French security firm VUPEN, the majority appear to have been rejected. MuckRock has a guide on filing with the NSA to maximize your chances of actually getting something back."

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This reveals the major problem with the FOIA... by intermodal · 2013-10-07 09:10 · Score: 5, Informative

Without Snowden, the people submitting these FOIA requests wouldn't have known what to request, which basically kills the point of actually making the requests. FOIA requires unduly high burden on the requester to actually already know (at least in part) what they're looking for. It's not really written to create transparency, but the illusion of transparency.

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In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!