Exploring the future of open government in the digital age: A reevaluation of the significance of the Electronic Freedom of Information Act of 1996

After five years of congressional hearings, floor debates and compromises, the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments (EFOIA) became law on October 2, 1996. In enacting the EFOIA, Congress clarified that the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 (FOIA) applied equally to agency records maintained in electronic formats as well as in paper formats. These electronic provisions were necessary to help ensure compliance with the statute because some federal agencies had been withholding computerized information on the grounds that electronic records did not fall under the Act's disclosure requirements.; The purpose of this dissertation is to further public understanding of the EFOIA through an examination of the statute's electronic provisions. This dissertation will try to answer several research questions: How did the courts resolve issues of public access to computerized government information in the decades before Congress enacted the EFOIA? What issues did Congress identify as obstacles to gaining access to government-held information in electronic formats? What mechanisms did Congress create in the EFOIA to remedy these problems? How have federal agencies implemented the statuters provisions and complied with its requirements? Did the EFOIA address all the pertinent and potential problems of access to electronically recorded and stored information, or is the statute already out of date because of the swift pace of technological development?; This research project will show that the rapid and unprecedented advances in information technology, particularly the growth of the Internet, have created gaps between technology and the law. This dissertation will conclude that in order to fulfill the Freedom of Information Act's broad policy of full disclosure and ensure continued public access to government information in the digital age, Congress must revise and update the EFOIA.