Republican Congressman Proposes Tracking Freedom of Information Act Requests

Representative Darrell Issa calls it a way to promote transparency: a request for the names of hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, business executives, journalists and others who have requested copies of federal government documents in recent years.

But his extraordinary request worries some civil libertarians. It “just seems sort of creepy that one person in the government could track who is looking into what and what kinds of questions they are asking,” said David Cuillier, a University of Arizona journalism professor and chairman of the Freedom of Information Committee at the Society of Professional Journalists. “It is an easy way to target people who he might think are up to no good.”

Translation: Issa is looking for a way to track, harass, and harm those looking into governmental and corporate practices which may point to governmental and corporate wrongdoing....This has absolutely nothing to do with transparency, and Issa's Orwellian use of this language betrays his contempt for people who are simply trying to find out the truth about what their government, The FED and banks are doing.

Story Here