When Public Becomes Private: ; Novel Excuses for Withholding Government Data

Summary

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WASHINGTON - The government argues that a health official's required public financial disclosure reports should not be public. Some of President Bush's military records were not released because officials did not want to search boxes filled with rat feces. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's public schedules were withheld until he left office.

Those roadblocks to government data arose in response to requests during the past year by The Associated Press. In recent years, the AP and other regular users of the Freedom of Information Act have been presented with a growing list of never-before-seen excuses for denying the public release of government documents.

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When Public Becomes Private: ; Novel Excuses for Withholding Government Data

"It's become much, much harder to get responses to FOIA requests, and it's taking much, much longer," said David A. Schulz, the attorney who helps the AP with FOIA requests. "Agencies seem to view their role as coming up with techniques to keep information secret rather than...

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