Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2014 12:20:14 GMT -6
FOIA stands for the Freedom of Information Act. This is a law signed by Lyndon Johnson in 1966 and which became law in the following year.
FOIA is meant to regulate and dictate record keeping, archiving and release policies across the Federal Government. It is probably one of the single most powerful laws to WORK FOR the people in our history, when considering the scope of what it has and continues to make known. The press would have a very hard time operating without it, and FOIA is what makes much of the information we DO have about government misconduct available to see in the first place. (Not to be confused with Sunshine laws and other similar efforts to duplicate FOIA on the State levels to various degrees of success).
This case involved EPIC (The Electronic Privacy Information Center), the FBI and the records of a massive system to identify US Citizens through a variety of automated means. EPIC believed we have the RIGHT to know that information. The FBI...seemed to disagree by its lack of enthusiasm to cooperate with legal FOIA requests. The courts...always the 3rd party in these things...decided the FBI needed some additional education on the nature of FOIA and their duty with relation to it.
lol.. Yeah.. See, that is the first problem. They do not get to determine on their own, when and how they would like to process these requests. The law doesn't give that latitude, and God himself coming down to screw up their day doesn't give excuses to delay beyond the legal limits......as the court agreed here.
I emphasized two points here for a reason. The FBI lost their little game of 'hide the embarrassing stuff' but "potentially" is a big word in a legal setting. It says to me, the Judge didn't just give them what the law strictly allowed and limited TO...He insured they got what they ASKED for, sans whatever the 9 special exemptions of FOIA legally permitted to be withheld. The difference is night and day, of course...and the FBI sure seems to have gotten their education this time.
They also got a bill. (grin)
Source
Now roughly $16,000 won't break banks, alter budgets or even be noticed in any financial way at the FBI. However, that isn't really the point of these actions. EPIC will certainly appreciate the free lawyers they got to beat the Government with, but even that isn't really the point. Unless EPIC is a 'shoe stringer' group working on personal funds from paychecks or something, $16,000 won't make their budget any more than it would break the FBI.
What these decisions DO accomplish is to embarrass and slap the agency who did it. They started by treating EPIC as citizens with matters of secondary importance, at best, and perhaps thought it was none of their business. When we have a nation that ignores the rule of law and an FBI that breaks or...bends..law as much as they enforce it? It would end right there too, if someone accepted the rejection or delays. EPIC didn't accept it.
These decisions not only have the agency eating political crow to be literally paying the people they looked down upon and treated like crap, but it checks them and their power in a way that really DOES hurt. Now they MUST do something they didn't care to do, against their will and pay for it as a bonus....all because someone in a black robe said so.
Overall, I'd describe this as a major victory for EPIC, and for the public as well. It is 'Major' in the material it gained, but also the slap the FBI got, and so badly needed. They just need many MORE to be meaningful I suppose.
Well, it all has to start somewhere.
FOIA is meant to regulate and dictate record keeping, archiving and release policies across the Federal Government. It is probably one of the single most powerful laws to WORK FOR the people in our history, when considering the scope of what it has and continues to make known. The press would have a very hard time operating without it, and FOIA is what makes much of the information we DO have about government misconduct available to see in the first place. (Not to be confused with Sunshine laws and other similar efforts to duplicate FOIA on the State levels to various degrees of success).
WASHINGTON (CN) - A government watchdog that won records on the FBI's massive biometric-identification database is entitled to attorneys' fees, a federal judge ruled.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, sued the FBI in 2013 for records on its Next Generation Identification program (NGI), a biometric-identification system that EPIC says can identify noncriminal civilians through iris scans, DNA, and facial and voice recognition.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, sued the FBI in 2013 for records on its Next Generation Identification program (NGI), a biometric-identification system that EPIC says can identify noncriminal civilians through iris scans, DNA, and facial and voice recognition.
This case involved EPIC (The Electronic Privacy Information Center), the FBI and the records of a massive system to identify US Citizens through a variety of automated means. EPIC believed we have the RIGHT to know that information. The FBI...seemed to disagree by its lack of enthusiasm to cooperate with legal FOIA requests. The courts...always the 3rd party in these things...decided the FBI needed some additional education on the nature of FOIA and their duty with relation to it.
EPIC filed two requests for records on NGI under the Freedom of Information Act in 2012, but the FBI dragged its feet, citing a backlog of FOIA requests and limited resources.
lol.. Yeah.. See, that is the first problem. They do not get to determine on their own, when and how they would like to process these requests. The law doesn't give that latitude, and God himself coming down to screw up their day doesn't give excuses to delay beyond the legal limits......as the court agreed here.
After EPIC filed suit, the FBI released nearly 600 pages of records regarding NGI deals with private contractors. A federal judge then ordered the bureau to release all nonexempt materials from 7,380 pages of potentially responsive records.
I emphasized two points here for a reason. The FBI lost their little game of 'hide the embarrassing stuff' but "potentially" is a big word in a legal setting. It says to me, the Judge didn't just give them what the law strictly allowed and limited TO...He insured they got what they ASKED for, sans whatever the 9 special exemptions of FOIA legally permitted to be withheld. The difference is night and day, of course...and the FBI sure seems to have gotten their education this time.
They also got a bill. (grin)
EPIC asked the court for $15,851.50 in fees for the matter, but the FBI argued that the group was entitled only to the $350 that it spent on filing the complaint.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled for EPIC on Wednesday.
"In light of the well-established precedent in this circuit, the court finds that EPIC is eligible for attorneys' fees and costs because it substantially prevailed by obtaining production of responsive documents pursuant to the court's June 28, 2013, order, which approved the parties' stipulated production date," she wrote.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled for EPIC on Wednesday.
"In light of the well-established precedent in this circuit, the court finds that EPIC is eligible for attorneys' fees and costs because it substantially prevailed by obtaining production of responsive documents pursuant to the court's June 28, 2013, order, which approved the parties' stipulated production date," she wrote.
Now roughly $16,000 won't break banks, alter budgets or even be noticed in any financial way at the FBI. However, that isn't really the point of these actions. EPIC will certainly appreciate the free lawyers they got to beat the Government with, but even that isn't really the point. Unless EPIC is a 'shoe stringer' group working on personal funds from paychecks or something, $16,000 won't make their budget any more than it would break the FBI.
What these decisions DO accomplish is to embarrass and slap the agency who did it. They started by treating EPIC as citizens with matters of secondary importance, at best, and perhaps thought it was none of their business. When we have a nation that ignores the rule of law and an FBI that breaks or...bends..law as much as they enforce it? It would end right there too, if someone accepted the rejection or delays. EPIC didn't accept it.
These decisions not only have the agency eating political crow to be literally paying the people they looked down upon and treated like crap, but it checks them and their power in a way that really DOES hurt. Now they MUST do something they didn't care to do, against their will and pay for it as a bonus....all because someone in a black robe said so.
Overall, I'd describe this as a major victory for EPIC, and for the public as well. It is 'Major' in the material it gained, but also the slap the FBI got, and so badly needed. They just need many MORE to be meaningful I suppose.
Well, it all has to start somewhere.
