Share your thoughts on Release to One, Release to All policies

Share your thoughts on Release to One, Release to All policies

The federal government is working on rolling out a massive change to how it handles FOIA requests

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Edited by JPat Brown

Last year, seven agencies began experimenting with a new policy dubbed “Release to One, Release to All.” The goal was to make any information released under a FOIA request available for everyone online, and now the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press wants your feedback as the federal government explores rolling out the process to every agency.

You can read an assessment of the pilot project, as well as an interview with Melanie Pustay, the director of the Office of Information Policy at the Department of Justice, for more details about the program.

Previously, a number of media requesters had expressed concerns with the program, with worries that it might dissuade journalists from using FOIA if the documents they fight for are handed over immediately to competitors, but the RCFP has said that, by and large, those concerns seem to be relatively minor.

That said, there has not been a lot of input or discussion within the requester community about the new policies, so sharing your thoughts through this survey is a good opportunity to make sure that any concerns are addressed now, rather than after the program is well underway.

Take the survey below and then let us know on Twitter how you feel to help start a discussion.


Image via Wikimedia Commons