From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 1996 00:33:53 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: FOI_led
Message-ID: <199601031602.LAA06860@pipe4.nyc.pipeline.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


   For comparison to snooping on search site searchers.
   
   1-3-96. WsJo:

   "Freedom of Information Act Gets Wider Use by Sleuths,
   Snoops and Senators."

      FOIA is a handy tool for companies, politicians and 
      journalists to snoop on one another. Many people who 
      file requests aren't aware that the requests themselves 
      are made public. Those who really know the process 
      make FOIA requests on other people's FOIA requests. 
      "It's not like I tapped someone's phone or got them 
      drunk. These are public documents."

      Journalists sometimes use FOIA to scoop their
      colleagues. A cottage industry provides information 
      about other people seeking information. Lexis/Nexis 
      carries synopses of FOIA requests. 

      So rich is FOIA intelligence that some are learning to
      take countermeasures. For a $36 fee, FOI Services will
      file its own FOIA requests on behalf of people who wish
      to remain anonymous.

   FOI_led