[WikiEN-l] Illegal sources

[Philip Welch]

On Apr 7, 2006, at 7:25 AM, Andrew Gray wrote:

>>> Yeah, the fact that you obtained the document yourself (e.g. by  
>>> siccing
>>> FOIA on the FBI) does not IMHO make it original research - any  
>>> more than
>>> going to the library and finding a book to read about the  
>>> subject, and
>>> then citing that book as a source.
>>
>> But... it doesn't pass WP:V because it has not been published in a
>> reliable source.
>
> The FBI puts most of its released FOIA material online; much more is
> held by places like the National Security Archive and, again,
> accessible to the public. Wouldn't this class as publication by a
> reputable source?

I don't think they put "most", but "a significant amount of material  
with wide public and historic interest" is put online by the FBI. But  
the FOIA also allows one to, for instance, request their own FBI file  
and submit corrections. For the most part, this is private  
information that won't be published publicly.

The FOIA requires one to specifically request the information in  
question. Information that is just released by the government  
separate from specific requests for that information falls outside FOIA.

-- 
Philip L. Welch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Philwelch