The Peoples’ Records

After 8 years of secrecy and resistance to public records requests, President Obama has issued orders to open up government records. He has directed all agencies to “adopt a presumption in favor” of Freedom of Information Act requests. In wording that is very satisfying to those of us who have fought for disclosure in the last few years, he stated: “The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears.” The knowledge that each request could involve a long and costly battle certainly had some chilling effect on public records requestors.