Frequently Asked Questions
What is a FOIA request?
Who can be a reviewer?
How do I review documents?
I made a mistake on my review/comment on a document page, what
should I do?
What should I do if I don't understand or can't read what
is on a page I am reviewing?
How do I rate the importance of a document if I don't understand
it?
What should I do if I find something that I think is REALLY
IMPORTANT?
I lost my password, what do I do?
What is a FOIA request?
A FOIA request is a request made under the Freedom of Information Act to an agency
of the executive branch of government for records in the custody and control of
that agency. In response to a FOIA request, an agency can withhold information that
falls within one of nine exemptions from public disclosure. Under the FOIA the right
to seek access to federal agency records is enforceable in court, where the requester
can also challenge any documents or portions of documents that are withheld. The
FOIA’s purpose is to ensure an informed citizenry necessary to check against corruption
and to hold those who govern accountable for their actions.
Who can be a reviewer?
Anyone over 13 years old with an Internet connection.
How do I review documents?
First,
register an account. After you have logged in,
click review. At this point, you have the option to select a specific FOIA or start
reviewing a random page in a random FOIA. If you see a document on a subject you
find interesting in the list on the left side, click the button next to its name
and then click "Start Reviewing." Otherwise, just click "Start Reviewing" and you're
on your way.
I made a mistake on my review/comment on a document page,
what should I do?
Don't sweat it. We've built this system to aggregate tons of responses to find the
consensus. However, if you made a particularly bad mistake, feel free to
contact us and we can fix it.
What should I do if I don't understand or can't read
what is on a page I am reviewing?
If the page you're reading doesn't make sense, try to get some context for it. Use
the forward and back buttons in the blue bar above the page to read what came on
the page before. If the text is too small, use the single page download option in
the blue document bar to download a PDF of the page you're currently reviewing.
If you've tried these two things, and the page just doesn't make any sense, you
can skip the page using the link at the bottom of the page, or you can select a
different FOIA to review.
How do I rate the importance of a document if I don't understand
it?
We've tried to provide you with enough information to be able to recognize a document
that's important when you see it, but sometimes it will be very difficult to make
sense of the document you're reviewing. If you get a page that doesn't make any
sense, click the button at the bottom of the review page that says "I don't understand
this." You'll be taken to a new page, and we'll take a look at the page to see if
there's a way we can make the questions clearer.
What should I do if I find something that I think is
REALLY IMPORTANT?
If you're reviewing the document, there's a question that asks you to rate its importance,
where you could select "extremely important." If you've just browsed to the page
and no one has reviewed it as important, you can contact us and let us know. One
feature of this site is to help us uncover corruption in government, another is
to give folks a source of government documents.
I lost my password, what do I do?
You can
reset your password here.