
FBI will no longer accept FOIA requests by email - rmason
https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/06/fbi-foia-fax-march-2017/
======
shawnee_
Previously-accumulated USDA data (that has already been paid for and is
technically a public good) has been blacked out also. Source:
[https://sunlightfoundation.com/tracking-u-s-government-
data-...](https://sunlightfoundation.com/tracking-u-s-government-data-removed-
from-the-internet-during-the-trump-administration/)

 _The USDA announced that public access to that information would now be
mediated through Freedom of Information Act requests._

There was a dog food poisoning reported [earlier this
week]([http://patch.com/illinois/hydepark/s/g0ven/illinois-
company-...](http://patch.com/illinois/hydepark/s/g0ven/illinois-company-sold-
dog-food-tainted-with-euthanasia-drug-fda)) The "supplier" of the poison dog
food is probably pretty happy the public can't figure out which other pet food
manufacturers (Besides Evanger's) they vendor.

This move was likely designed to hide facts from the public and to make
investigative journalism a lot more difficult. Public health and safety data
needs to be public and squelching it is akin to public endangerment.

[edit: thx for grammar correction.]

~~~
pdabbadabba
Well, there's a (hopefully) easy way to solve this problem: submit a FOIA
request for the missing data, and post it publicly.

Does anyone know of a place to post such things?

Edit: To be clear, I think there is no good reason for this to be hidden
behind a FOIA wall. But, assuming that we're stuck with the FOIA wall...

~~~
anigbrowl
It's not going to be easy or cheap and there will be a significant discovery
problem for others. To be effective, we need to abandon the nonprofit silo
model and switch towards an open unitary model, a wiki-web built on
relationships rather than centered on ownership or exclusive curation content.

~~~
pdabbadabba
I understand the first half of your post, but not the second. Could you
explain? (Or just drop a link to something I can read?)

------
morisy
Someone pointed out that there's technically a web portal that requesters can
use. That web portal, however, goes beyond the law to add a bunch of
restrictions including:

    
    
      * Limiting you to one request per day.
      * Not allowing you to request internal memos and a variety of other classes of documents.
      * The website doesn't work on weekends.
    

More detailed look how bad the website they launched to replace email is:

[https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/feb/07/fbi-
foia-...](https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/feb/07/fbi-foia-portal-
bad/)

~~~
elfchief
Websites that don't work on weekends (of which I've seen more than a few) are
really quite possibly the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I shudder to think
that somewhere there was a requirements document that details what days the
site should and shouldn't work...

~~~
chias
I had to file some forms on irs.gov about a year ago, and the web portal was
only open on weekdays between 9am and 5pm eastern time.

My fantasy explanation is that the form feeds directly into a printer, and
they have a guy who takes the printouts, staples them, and puts them in a box.
If the website is open 24/7 then when Stapleman shows up to work Monday
morning the backlog might be discouraging. Not to mention if the printer jams
during off hours and nobody's there to notice, filings may be lost. Or maybe
I'm overthinking this.

~~~
metaobject
I realize you're speculating, but ...

I'm not sure if the IRS is trending towards a paperless office or not (is that
even still a thing?), but triggering a print job for every form submitted via
a web portal sounds very wasteful. I'd hope they have have some sort of
workflow system in place instead.

~~~
chias
Another theory I have involves concessions to webserver unions and/or
acknowledging the need for time off to take care of the child processes. These
fantasies are the only place I can find closure and sanity when my carefully
filled out submission is rejected by the website because it is now 4:01 pm and
that's Miller Time on the east coast.

~~~
phil21
You're actually closer than you realize :)

It's a government worker union thing. They don't have a contract for being
called at 4am when the website breaks, so you better shut it off at 5pm.

If you think this is the stupidest thing in government you should ensure you
_never_ have to work in that environment over your lifetime :)

~~~
virusduck
I'm not sure there are many government web services run by actual government
employees.

------
jonknee
It would be interesting to fax in a FOIA request to find out the reasoning
behind the decision to not allow email FOIA requests. And how the restrictions
for the web portal came to be since they are not required by law.

~~~
morisy
Someone filed a request here:

[https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-
america-10/foi...](https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-
america-10/foia-portal-only-32948/)

The page gets updated as documents come back.

------
coldcode
Well they don't respond with information either, so they may as well only
accept carrier pigeons.

~~~
dickbasedregex
I don't know why people have down voted you. It's not as if the US government
has a history of accessibility and transparency.

Call a spade a spade.

~~~
jjawssd
Obama promised a new era of US government transparency and Wikileaks delivered
it

------
digitalneal
Who is going to be the hero that converts FBI FOIA emails into automated faxes
and offers it as a service?

~~~
morisy
My non-profit, MuckRock, offers that service for the FBI and 6,000 other
agencies:

[https://www.muckrock.com/foi/create/](https://www.muckrock.com/foi/create/)

You can also browse almost 30,000 other requests filed by users:

[https://www.muckrock.com/foi/](https://www.muckrock.com/foi/)

~~~
a_t48
Nice. My first thought was that somebody should make such a service. My second
thought was that somebody probably already had. Do you get upticks in traffic
when things show up in the news?

~~~
morisy
Definitely. Trick is keeping things running smoothly during news cycles and
off, but there's been a lot more interest the past few months around a number
of topics.

------
un-devmox
This is another troubling action meant to chip away at what government
transparency we have left. I'm sure that the argument could be made that
government agencies are "inundated" with requests that they can't keep up with
and all this is too "costly."

This is worrisome! Will the feds start charging fees to view electronic docs
like the State of Wyoming? [http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/wyoming-court-ok-
to-charge-f...](http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/wyoming-court-ok-to-charge-
for-viewing-electronic-
records/article_47fa4470-b791-11e6-aaf6-fbca37317729.html)

------
yAnonymous
[https://faxzero.com/](https://faxzero.com/)

~~~
feld
Would be great if they offered free faxes for FOIA requests :)

~~~
bpchaps
(I'm attempting to make something that does something similar, if anyone's
interested in helping out in any way.)

~~~
rabidonrails
I'm the cofounder of Phaxio (a faxing API). We're interested in helping out
too!

~~~
dopamean
When and why did you create a faxing API? I know that may seem like a snarky
question but I really mean it seriously. I'm someone who hasn't sent a fax in
at least 10 years and so I just assumed it was a nearly dead form of
communication.

~~~
rabidonrails
We created Phaxio several years ago because the project we were working on
needed a fax API and the options at the time were all terrible.

I don't personally send lots of faxes but businesses send millions of them and
it's a crucial part of their workflow.

~~~
dopamean
Cool. Thanks for the reply.

------
fjdlwlv
If I don't see a privately operated website providing a workaround within a
week, I'll be embarrassed. The Internet views censorship as damage and routes
around it.

Corporations have been profiting from your contact information for years, now
you can donate your contact information for the public good.

See also [https://www.muckrock.com/](https://www.muckrock.com/)

------
weberc2
Someone could set up an email->fax interface for FOIA requests.

~~~
cbhl
HelloFax and eFax are already a thing -- the problem is that faxes require
going through POTS, and are much more expensive to send than emails.

~~~
fjdlwlv
POTS only costs as much as a phone call (which can be automated over VOIP),
which isn't free but for FOIA workload is close enough.

------
zaidf
There should be a SaaS API that let's you file, track and access data from
your FOIA requests.

~~~
huac
MuckRock does a lot of this.

------
c0nfused
This is essentially FUD.

There is a web portal [https://efoia.fbi.gov](https://efoia.fbi.gov)

The terms are a bit restrictive but not incredibly so.

FBI eFOIPA: Terms of Service: Please read before continuing...

Not all requests can be fulfilled using the eFOIPA system. You will be
notified if your request cannot be serviced through the eFOIPA system.

A valid e-mail address will be required for authentication. Requests for fee
waivers will require additional documentation.

Submissions are limited to events, organizations, first party requests
(Privacy Act requests), and deceased individuals. You will be required to
upload proof of death for requests for records responsive to deceased
individuals who are younger than 100 years of age. Acceptable formats include
.pdf or .doc. Other formats will not be accepted.

If you are making a request on an event, organization, or deceased individual,
the primary form of correspondence that you will receive from the FBI will be
e-mail. If you are making a request on a first party (Privacy Act request),
the primary form of correspondence that you will receive from the FBI will be
through standard mail.

If you are making a request on a living third party, your request cannot
currently be serviced using the eFOIPA system. The combined file size of all
attachments may not exceed 30 megabytes.

You are limited to making one request per day and one request per submission.

It is recommended that you visit [http://www.justice.gov/oip/doj-foia-
regulations](http://www.justice.gov/oip/doj-foia-regulations) if you have any
additional questions or concerns prior to submitting your Freedom of
Information Act or Privacy Act (FOIPA) request to the FBI.

An FBI Criminal History Summary Check—often referred to as a criminal
background check, criminal history record, police background clearance,
police/good conduct certificate, or “rap sheet”—is a listing of certain
information taken from fingerprint submissions retained by the FBI in
connection with arrests and, in some instances, federal employment,
naturalization, or military service. It can also be used to satisfy a
requirement to live, work, or travel in a foreign country; for employment or
licensing; or for adopting a child. To obtain a copy of your FBI Criminal
History Summary Check, please contact the FBI’s Criminal Justice Services
Division (CJIS) in Clarksburg, West Virginia by writing to Federal Bureau of
Investigation, CJIS Division, Attention: Record Request, 1000 Custer Hollow
Road, Clarksburg, WV 26306.

~~~
Lagged2Death
_This is essentially FUD. There is a web portal..._

The linked article points all of this out in the first few sentences. FUD?

~~~
robert_foss
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

~~~
mijoharas
I think they were questioning how the person could class this as Fear,
Uncertainty and Doubt rather than asking for a definition.

