NCJ Number
215406
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 48 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2006 Pages: 499-521
Date Published
July 2006
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article describes two lawsuits filed by the author--one under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and the other under the Access to Information Act in Canada--in order to illustrate how these laws can be used to obtain data from the government as well as the potential pitfalls that a plaintiff faces in civil proceedings when the government is not forthcoming with information guaranteed under these laws.
Abstract
The first case, Yeager v. Drug Enforcement Agency, was filed in 1976 under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It involved the Federal Government's refusal to give the author requested access to four categories of information in the Drug Enforcement Administration's intelligence data systems. Although the author lost the case after appeal, the decision of the Court of Appeal has been cited extensively in subsequent litigation and was later incorporated into law. It is the court's conclusion that "computer-stored records, whether stored in the central processing unit, on magnetic tape, or in some other form, are still "records" for the purpose of the FOIA." The second case, Yeager v. Correctional Service of Canada, was brought under Canada's Access to Information Act and involved requests for various inmate data files and software. Although the trial court sided with the plaintiff (the author), an appeals court undermined the trial court's ruling. Both of these cases illustrate how expensive and difficult it is to obtain information that a government agency does not want to reveal, even though it may be mandated under legislation. Still, litigation under freedom of information laws must be incorporated in the funding of any research that involves securing data largely controlled by the government. 67 references