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