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Is there any way to obtain this old data through a FOIA? Or do those requests not apply to US courts?



Alas, FOIA applies only to federal government agencies that are in the executive branch. It doesn't apply to federal courts or the U.S. Congress.


Well that's depressing.


Yep. Though Congress could liberate all of PACER, retrospective and prospective, if it chose -- one data dump to Carl Malamud would do it. The appropriations bills are wending their way through the legislative process right now (mostly out of committee), and that might be a vehicle to add a one-line amendment. Would require a lot of work in the next month or two.


Who do I call or who's door do I bang on?


I'd point you in the direction of Carl Malamud, Jim Harper at the Cato Institute, and EFF, probably in that order. Jim's made it a project to liberate government data; Carl's gone further and made it his life's work.

Inside Congress itself? Hmm. I'm spending my time working on http://recent.io/ and now paying close attention nowadays. But if you're local to the SF south bay try Rep. Lofgren? I've done some Q&As with her and found she's one of the smarter and well-informed members of Congress on tech policy issues.


Not really. You could try but I doubt it would get you anywhere.

This needs Congressional attention. Of course, Congress is on vacation. Not that it would matter.

Still, contact your representatives.




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