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My husband FOIA's every day it seems, and sometimes he pays fees. I think it's perfectly reasonable for a government to charge a modest fee for research, retrie
by Simulacra 9y ago
My husband FOIA's every day it seems, and sometimes he pays fees. I think it's perfectly reasonable for a government to charge a modest fee for research, retrieval, printing, etc. Otherwise you might get trolls FOIA'ing huge amounts of stuff just because they can.
- danso 9y agoMany public records laws do allow for a fee, or at least a delay if the search requires extensive work. However, the counter-argument is that if fees go unchallenged, they not only become a defense against following the public records law, they reduce incentive for the government to actively be more efficient in disseminating records. There'd be much less incentive for a government to publish online if they were able to charge for any kind of work. In this case, $750 to email a PDF is not at all a reasonable request.