It's really hard to generalize about this in the US, each state has their own laws, FOIA isn't applicable to state and local governments: http://www.nfoic.org/s

It's really hard to generalize about this in the US, each state has their own laws, FOIA isn't applicable to state and local governments: http://www.nfoic.org/state-foi-laws http://www.nfoic.org/state-foi-laws The allowable exemptions -- and penalties for non-compliance -- vary wildly from state to state.