# Documents released under the FOI Act? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 21, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010 "2017-12-21T19:58:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/1 "2017-12-21T19:58:36Z")
As so often happens when the authorities provide the documents, a considerable portion of them are blacked out. Do they keep uncensored versions for their own files, or is that it? How do you request the “real” documents? Some of the ones I have seen are nearly worthless as information sources. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/2 "2017-12-21T20:11:11Z")
In most cases, yes. You can’t. Not without proper clearance, at least. FYI the official terms for this sort of thing are “sanitization” or “redaction.” ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/3 "2017-12-21T20:17:32Z")
In some cases, the redactions can be made public after a few decades. So, you could just wait and try another FOIA request in 2040 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/4 "2017-12-21T20:32:38Z")
There are several reasons that information within a document may be redacted before being released to the public. The redacted bits may include : -[classified information](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information) -[sensitive-but-unclassified information](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensitive_but_unclassified) -[confidential business information](https://www.google.com/search?ei=xhk8WqfaLsO-mwG5wLboCw&q=confidential+business+information&oq=confidential+business+information&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l4j0i7i30k1j0l2j0i30k1l3.2301.3354.0.3551.13.8.0.0.0.0.225.948.0j3j2.5.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..12.1.184....0.F2eT6MXGnww) -[personally identifiable information](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personally_identifiable_information) The original documents held by goverment agencies will have all of this information intact, even if it’s redacted on the versions released to the public under FOIA requests. Obtaining unredacted versions probably requires a court order. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/5 "2017-12-21T20:42:43Z")
Is there a way to challenge if you think the document has been overly censored, rendering it purposefully totally useless? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/6 "2017-12-21T21:00:56Z")
I think most agencies have an internal appeal process, and then FOIA does permit a dissatisfied requestor to sue in federal court to overturn the agency’s decision to redact or withhold. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/7 "2017-12-21T21:08:17Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I think most agencies have an internal appeal process, and then FOIA does permit a dissatisfied requestor to sue in federal court to overturn the agency’s decision to redact or withhold. Are there records of this being successful? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/8 "2017-12-21T22:07:29Z")
[Yes](http://foiaproject.org/lawsuit/). There are also many records of it being unsuccessful. FOIA lawsuits are common as dirt. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/9 "2017-12-21T22:10:54Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > [Yes](http://foiaproject.org/lawsuit/). There are also many records of it being unsuccessful. FOIA lawsuits are common as dirt. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/10 "2017-12-21T22:41:32Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Are there records of this being successful? Judicial Watch’s FOIA lawsuit over Clinton’s email records is perhaps the most famous recent example. There are currently about 500 FOIA [lawsuits](http://foiaproject.org/2016/01/06/foia-lawsuits-reach-record-high/) filed each year, up from around 300 in years past. That site has a lot of information about cases and appeals, but I’m not sure how granular any of their statistics are. Also, DOJ maintains a government-wide [repository](https://www.justice.gov/oip/annual-foia-reports-fy-2016) of each agency’s report on its FOIA activity each year, which tend to show how many cases get partly or wholly reversed on internal appeal or in court. The data generally seems to be tracked by number of cases rather than the volume of information at issue in particular cases, but one can see how many requests were initially denied based on an exemption (i.e., something withheld or redacted for some reason) that then get reversed. Note that many requests get denied simply because there were no records found. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/11 "2017-12-22T22:25:38Z")
My company is a federal IT contractor. Once there was a FOIA request for one of our contracts, and we were given the opportunity to redact it first to remove proprietary data. I did the redaction. The government, of course, has the complete unredacted version and always has. If you are getting a redacted document you cannot request the “real” documents. There is a reason they are redacted. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2017, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/documents-released-under-the-foi-act/805010/12 "2017-12-22T22:40:49Z")
Well, you can _request_ anything you want. But you probably won’t get it.