Excellent essay. I had no idea the right had been using FOIA requests for such nefarious purposes. I agree that some limits and restrictions should be placed on these requests. It's similar to the voter challenges and book bans that have been weaponized - go after groups who disagree with you and flood them with requests and challenges to silence them. This is also why laws can get so convoluted. You begin with a relatively simple law and then, because some people abuse the process, the law has to become more complex to deal with the abuse. Another option, for FOIA requests, is to charge a fee for the person making the request when the number of requests exceeds a certain number during any one period (month, quarter, etc.). The fee should be graduated and progressive and help to offset the costs associated with the searches. I signed up for your webinar and I'm looking forward to the discussion.
Excellent essay. I had no idea the right had been using FOIA requests for such nefarious purposes. I agree that some limits and restrictions should be placed on these requests. It's similar to the voter challenges and book bans that have been weaponized - go after groups who disagree with you and flood them with requests and challenges to silence them. This is also why laws can get so convoluted. You begin with a relatively simple law and then, because some people abuse the process, the law has to become more complex to deal with the abuse. Another option, for FOIA requests, is to charge a fee for the person making the request when the number of requests exceeds a certain number during any one period (month, quarter, etc.). The fee should be graduated and progressive and help to offset the costs associated with the searches. I signed up for your webinar and I'm looking forward to the discussion.