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[IP] Withholds Foreign Agent Data; Says Computer is Fragile





Begin forwarded message:

From: Jim Warren <jwarren@xxxxxxxx>
Date: June 28, 2004 7:13:27 PM EDT
To: Dave Farber: ;"Peter Neumann, SRI" <neumann@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: fwd: [FOI-L] DOJ Withholds Foreign Agent Data; Says Computer is Fragile

At 5:40 PM -0400 6/28/04, Michael Ravnitzky <mikerav@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> posted to FOI-L:

Justice Department Denies Access to Data, Saying Their Computer is Too Fragile!

You have gotta read the complete article, which is posted here:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=332&sid=100

Foreign Lobbyist Database Could Vanish
Justice Department claims merely copying its foreign agents database could destroy it

By Kevin Bogardus

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2004 - Justice Department officials say a huge database that serves as the public's lone window on lobbying activities by foreign governments has been allowed to decay to a point they cannot even make a copy of its contents.

Responding to a recent Freedom of Information request from the Center for Public Integrity, the Justice Department's Foreign Agent Registration Unit said it was unable to copy its records electronically because their computer system was "so fragile." In a letter, the head of the unit's Freedom of Information office said that simply attempting to make an electronic copy of the database "could result in a major loss of data, which would be devastating."

SNIP
================
personal comment from Michael Ravnitzky:

Here's the newest way the Justice Department is using to hid links to Saudi funding.

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