DLP Dispatch #2
Hello, and welcome to the second edition of the Data Liberation Project’s newsletter. There are now 480+ of you who’ve subscribed to these updates, something that encourages me. Thank you for your attention; I’ll try to reward it with concision. Without further ado:
The latest batch of FOIA requests
In the final days of October, I filed the second batch of Data Liberation Project FOIA requests. They seek:
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A Bureau of Prisons database that tracks federal inmates’ complaints and their follow-up.
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Office of Refugee Resettlement records relating to the care of unaccompanied children.
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Documentation of Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Targeting System.
As with the initial batch, these requests span several types of records: full databases, submodules of larger databases, data exports provided by contractors, data collected through specific forms, and database documentation.
You can read more about each request via the links above. If you have any questions about them, please do ask.
The DLP’s FOIA language is yours to reuse
A couple of people have asked me whether they can reuse language from the DLP’s FOIA request letters. The answer is a resounding yes!
(More specifically: You can consider the DLP’s FOIA requests to be CC0-licensed; no restrictions on reuse, nor requirements to credit the DLP ... though, of course, the latter would be appreciated where possible.)
This decision aligns with one of the Data Liberation Project’s auxiliary goals, which is to make it easier for anyone and everyone to craft data-seeking FOIA requests.
A big thanks to the folks at the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic, who kindly contributed some of the language in the DLP’s requests (and are also okay with people reusing it).
Suggest more data to liberate
What government data would you like to see the DLP pursue next? Fill out this short form to let me know.
I’m already finding your suggestions helpful; the idea for the EPA request mentioned above came directly from one such submission.
That’s all for now! Thank you for reading, and don’t hesitate to reply.
— Jeremy