[Infowarrior] - Government Sites Aren't FOIA-Friendly

[Richard Forno]

Government Sites Aren't FOIA-Friendly
Study Finds Most Agencies Fall Short of Transparency Mandate

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/11/AR2007031101
043_pf.html

Monday, March 12, 2007; A11

Federal agencies helped create the Internet, but most do not use it to
inform the public about what they do, a study to be released today shows.

In 1996, Congress intended to keep government ahead of the curve by amending
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to require that agencies put more
public information on their Web sites. Posting important and most-requested
records online, the theory went, would burn through a raft of hard-copy FOIA
requests, save money and eliminate waiting time.

But the new study by the National Security Archive, a nongovernmental
research institute and library located at George Washington University,
finds that 10 years after Congress passed "E-FOIA," agency Web sites
distinguish themselves more for cyber-foot-dragging than for streamlined
access.

A review of 149 federal agencies found that only 1 in 5 posts on its Web
site all the records required and that even fewer -- 6 percent -- tell
people how to request what does not appear there. Two-thirds do not provide
indexes to their major records systems, or they provide guides that are so
unclear they are worthless. Only 1 in 4 agencies includes an online FOIA
submission form on its Web site.

This failure to comply with the law, advocates of open government say,
amounts to another stiff-arm by the executive branch to Congress's demand
for greater transparency.

"It seems like a no-brainer. . . . It's a very basic Web practice that was
adopted by the private sector several years ago or more," said Kristin
Adair, staff counsel for the National Security Archive and the report's
primary author.

Amid all this opacity, a few agencies stand out. One of the most compliant,
NASA, was instrumental in the development of the Internet. But so was the
Department of Defense, one of the worst E-FOIA offenders.

-- Elizabeth Williamson