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FBI Will Revert To Using Fax Machines, Snail Mail For FOIA Requests (dailydot.com)
blottsie writes: Starting next month, the FBI will no longer accept Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests via email. Instead, the U.S. agency will largely require requests be made via fax machine or the U.S. Postal Service. [The FBI will also accept a small number of requests via an online portal, "provided users agree to a terms-of-service agreement and are willing to provide the FBI with personal information, including a phone number and physical address."] The Daily Dot reports: "It's a huge step backwards for the FBI to switch from a proven, ubiquitous, user-friendly technology like email to a portal that has consistently shown problems, ranging from restricting how often citizens can access their right to government oversight to legitimate privacy concerns," says Michael Morisy, co-founder of MuckRock, a nonprofit that has helped people file over 28,271 public records requests at more than 6,690 state, federal, and local agencies. "Given that email has worked well for millions of requests over the years, this seems like a move designed to reduce participation and transparency, and we hope that the FBI will reverse course," Morisy added.
Obama had the worst FOIA request number of any administration.
"Most transparent administration ever!" my ass.
Pine away. I'm LMAO.
In the US, the federal ESIGN act was passed in 2000, giving digital documents full legal recognition. Wow, it's been seventeen years - it doesn't seem that long.
47 states have adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), which is similar.
For some types of transactions, one party might be concerned that they can't prove the document hasn't been tampered with, if it's not a cryptographic signature. That can be a legitimate concern, in some types of transactions.
As the DNC learned the hard way a few months ago, many emails have a tamper-proof signature called DKIM automatically applied, so your email may have a signature proving it is legitimate without you even knowing it. I don't see this as an issue the FBI would be concerned with for FOIA requests - I don't think there's a big danger of hackers changing your FOIA requests.
And then, there's Benghazi. Clear case of treason,
Well it's clear that you're desperate for there to be something terribly wrong with Clinton and you won't let facts get in the way. This is the weird thing about Trumpanzees: so many of them can't actually cine up with reasons why trump is good instead inventive reasons why the opposite choice was worse. I've never seen the case where so many people are so rabidly in favor of someone they can't say anything positive about.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
And then, there's Benghazi. Clear case of treason, and no Democrat is interested.
But the Republicans were interested! How many hearings and investigations did they carry out? No, seriously, I'm asking. I lost count. And what did they find? Nothing. So what are you talking about?
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
And what did they find? Nothing.
No, they found that the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and her boss, Obama, repeatedly, deliberately, and for purely political purposes right before an election where his narrative about terrorists being "on the run" was a central campaign talking point, lied, lied, and lied some more about what happened, why it happened, and how they responded to it. Their were multiple investigations into it because Clinton herself, the State Department, and the rest of the Obama administration were deliberately non-responsive to subpoenas and other requests for information. The Obama administration foot-dragged and slow-walked at every opportunity, and Clinton herself lied and had her associated and staff lie continuosly for months. You think that's "nothing," but what it did was contribute to voters' understanding of just how corrupt she is, and in what contempt she holds the people she wanted power over. Of the many things that cost her the election, her display of deceit and obfuscation over the deaths of people under her on her watch, and her craven attempts to spin a fantasy version of events and cover up what happened was a key part of it. "Nothing," indeed.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
'The FBI's reports to Congress show that the Bureau is unable to find any records in response to two-thirds of its incoming FOIA requests on average over the past four years, when the other major government agencies averaged only a 13% "no records" response to public requests.'
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