People seeking government information to make their communities better face frustrations and obstacles because of high copy fees, according to a new study “To Fee or Not to Fee: Requester Attitude Toward Freedom of Information Charges, co-authored by David Cuillier, director of the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida. The study was published in October in Government Information Quarterly.
Cuillier and co-author A.Jay Wagner of Marquette University surveyed 330 people across the United States who have requested public records from the government through state and federal freedom of information laws.
They compared two different kinds of requesters: Those seeking information in the public interest, such as journalists, researchers and nonprofit organizations, and those seeking information for commercial purposes, such as lawyers and businesses that profit from information.
