Courts generally give that term a very broad definition, including criminal and civil law enforcement, as well inspector general inquiries, many employee discipline matters, dignitary protection and other subjects. It is rare for judges to nix the government's assertion of a law enforcement records exemption under FOIA on the basis that the records were not actually used for law enforcement. "Technology systems that are vulnerable to being compromised, whether by internal or external means, do not merely put investigations at risk, but also imperil the privacy interests of those individuals whose personal information happens to come into possession of a law enforcement agency," wrote Mehta, an appointee of President Barack Obama. However, the judge was not persuaded by that assertion, saying that the contention "falls woefully short" and was "particularly inadequate." Mehta noted that FBI records official David Hardy told the court that "there is a nexus between the FBI’s law enforcement responsibilities and these responsive records." District Court Judge Amit Mehta said the FBI had failed to demonstrate that the deleted information met a threshold test for the exemption: that the records be compiled for law enforcement purposes. The FBI eventually produced about 2,200 heavily redacted pages for EPIC, with much of the information deleted on the grounds that it reflected sensitive law enforcement methods or techniques. The Electronic Privacy Information Center sued the law enforcement agency under the Freedom of Information Act in 2014, seeking copies of the FBI's "privacy impact assessments" and "privacy threshold analyses" on various bureau databases containing personal information. It contains a provision authorizing DC government agencies to delay responding to records requests during the coronavirus pandemic.Privacy group notches win over FBI in FOIA fightĪ privacy protection group scored a pair of legal wins Tuesday in a court battle with the FBI over access to studies the law enforcement agency has done of how its own record-keeping systems could impact personal privacy. Separately Tuesday, the Washington, DC, city council unanimously approved the COVID19 Response Emergency Amendment Act of 2020. In a statement, the FBI said, "In support of our mission, we are enacting measures to protect the FBI workforce, including heightened hygiene practices, social distancing options, like telework and flexible work schedules where appropriate and authorizing only essential operational travel until further notice." Reached late Tuesday night, an FBI spokesperson declined to comment about the new FOIA procedures. Especially at times like this, government transparency is essential to public trust, and agencies should be working to provide timely public access to records and information through FOIA, not throwing up unnecessary roadblocks for requesters." "Agencies should be encouraging - not prohibiting - members of the public to submit FOIA requests electronically. "Government agencies can and should take reasonable measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is nothing reasonable about this," Townsend told BuzzFeed News. Townsend called the FBI's position "absurd." And the production scheduled for the end of this month is now on hold, along with productions in many other cases." FBI is working on a response, but it is not clear when it will have one. "The FOIA processors need to be on-site to do the work, but they are too closely positioned to be able to conform to the new social distancing guidance. "The bad news is that the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation is forcing FBI to drastically reduce its FOIA processing because it cannot do the work remotely, due to the system’s security constraints," the government attorney wrote. Matt Topic, an attorney who represents BuzzFeed News in numerous FOIA lawsuits against the FBI and other government agencies, said he received similar notification via email from a Justice Department attorney regarding a case he is litigating for another client.
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