FOIPA adventures

[coderman]

On 8/5/15, coderman <coderman at gmail.com> wrote:
> ...
> able to pre-pay for the most technical report on FBI procurement of
> forensic power overrides...
> https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/hotpluggedin-19762/

as expected, this was just a "go away" tactic, and once paid, they
took their time to tell me they must refund, and i must give them an
amount, and then they search, and then they charge me, and then they
search some more, and then they give me the docs.

fuck that! and happy judicial precedent later, i gave this reply:

---

This is a written response regarding payment for FOIA request 1333239-000.
Please be advised that I am NO LONGER WILLING TO PAY FEES and contest
the notion of my request being "commercial use".

Observe that in August, 2015 D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland
emphasized that web-based publishers are as entitled to waivers as
newspapers, that outlets without a following by a broad swath of the
general public can qualify for waivers and that organizations that
pass analyzed government documents to media outlets can be classified
as members of the news media under the federal public records law.

"There is nothing in the statute that specifies the number of outlets
a requester must have, and surely a newspaper is not disqualified if
it forsakes newsprint for (or never had anything but) a website,"
Garland wrote in an opinion joined by Judges Janice Rogers Brown and
David Sentelle. "There is no indication that Congress meant to
distinguish between those who reach their ultimate audiences directly
and those who partner with others to do so..."
- http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/EF1DE205B4E1264685257EAC004EF78C/$file/13-5335-1569545.pdf

The results of my FOIA requests have been incorporated into popular
reporting in the technical press and wider media, proving the value of
this information to the public and my ability to ultimately reach the
public audience through partner organizations.
Thank you.