Just within this small sampling of recent news, we can see the impact of making a public records request: from having the FBI scramble to keep information hidden to being the seed that grew into a dynamic global campaign. As cliché as it may sound, knowledge is power—whether that’s the power to expose what’s behind […]
Amid the seemingly never-ending news of police shootings and killings of unarmed civilians, there is a rising public demand for more police accountability. To placate this growing demand, a few months ago, Congress passed a new version of the Death in Custody Reporting Act, 42 U.S.C. 13727. This law, which is a revised version of […]
The “FOIA Improvement Act of 2015” aims to make it easier for the public to obtain records and harder for federal agencies to hide records.
The CLDC is encouraging activists and organizations to utilize the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act to request documents and materials that the FBI may have accumulated about you or the group you are active in. Not only will this information assist activist communities in learning about and preventing unlawful government spying, but it will also shed light on the extent of surveillance that has been undertaken in your community. Shine a light on FBI activities by exercising your lawful right to these documents and information.
There have been several high profile activists who have recently received thousands of pages of invaluable information regarding FBI surveillance and spying activities used to violate their privacy rights. Check out the New York Times article about Austin, TX activist Scott Crow and his successful attempt at finding out whether he was paranoid or spied upon by the FBI: “For Anarchist, Details of Life as F.B.I. Target,” Colin Moynihan and Scott Shane, May 28, 2011.
Read the information and directions we’ve put together so that you and your friends can sit around and read your FBI files. Fun for the whole family!
We have provided FBI request templates to assist you in making your request correctly (they are bureaucrats after all)–one template is used to request your personal file and we included some language in case you also want to request records about an organization you are affiliated with (i.e. Lauren Regan and Civil Liberties Defense Center). The other template can be used if you only want to request records pertaining to an organization or event, but do not want personal records. Finally, if you want your FBI rap sheet, there is an entirely different process to undertake, and we’ve given you directions and the FBI website where you will need to download their application form.
Good luck, happy reading, and please let us know about your experience!
Download the FOIA Privacy waiver here: KXL Blank privacy waiver
The CLDC is assisting activists and journalists to acquire FBI documents that we believe will ultimately demonstrate unconstitutional and illegal surveillance of climate justice activists engaged in efforts to stop the Keystone KXL Pipeline. We also believe these FBI records will illustrate the extreme degree of collusion between the federal government and repulsive corporations like Transcanada (the corporation responsible for the KXL tar sands pipeline.
The FBI was forced to turn over some documents regarding their surveillance of activists involved in Texas anti-KXL organizing, but they heavily redacted the documents falsely asserting that they were just protecting the privacy rights of activists by redacting their names!!
So, right now the focus of our work is to acquire FOIA Privacy Waivers from activists and organizers who have worked on anti-KXL campaigns in Texas, and in particular, Houston.
If you are willing to fill it out, please sign it and scan it back to me at info@cldc.org, Subject: KXL FOIA.
In addition, the FBI may have documents that are identified only by an email address. If you are willing, we would love to force them to un-redact email addresses so we can try and further scrutinize the records for information that can be used by the movement in the future. Please provide us with the email address you may have used for KXL organizing purposes we well.
Thank you in advance for your assistance!
In solidarity,
Lauren Regan
Executive Director & Staff Attorney
The CLDC is encouraging activists and organizations to utilize the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act to request documents and materials that the FBI may have accumulated about you or the group you are active in. Not only will this information assist activist communities in learning about and preventing unlawful government spying, but it will also shed light on the extent of surveillance that has been undertaken in your community. Shine a light on FBI activities by exercising your lawful right to these documents and information.
There have been several high profile activists who have recently received thousands of pages of invaluable information regarding FBI surveillance and spying activities used to violate their privacy rights. Check out the New York Times article about Austin, TX activist Scott Crow and his successful attempt at finding out whether he was paranoid or spied upon by the FBI: “For Anarchist, Details of Life as F.B.I. Target,” Colin Moynihan and Scott Shane, May 28, 2011.
Read the information and directions we’ve put together so that you and your friends can sit around and read your FBI files. Fun for the whole family!
We have provided FBI request templates to assist you in making your request correctly (they are bureaucrats after all)–one template is used to request your personal file and we included some language in case you also want to request records about an organization you are affiliated with (i.e. Lauren Regan and Civil Liberties Defense Center). The other template can be used if you only want to request records pertaining to an organization or event, but do not want personal records. Finally, if you want your FBI rap sheet, there is an entirely different process to undertake, and we’ve given you directions and the FBI website where you will need to download their application form.
Good luck, happy reading, and please let us know about your experience!
