[chicagomom]

Well, there are just so many I thought it'd be good for the list to have a thread of its own. Feel free to contribute.

Today's installation: The Justice Department is denying requests made regarding the identities of foreign lobbyists on the grounds that it would crash their computer.

Quote:

"Implementing such a request risks a crash that cannot be fixed and could result in a major loss of data, which would be devastating," wrote Thomas J. McIntyre, chief in the Justice Department's office for information requests.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBDP9DE2WD.html

 

[steph]

Boy oh boy, what will they think of next?

"This was a new one on us. We weren't aware there were databases that could be destroyed just by copying them," Bob Williams of the Center for Public Integrity said Tuesday. The watchdog group in Washington made the request in January. He said the group expects to appeal the Justice Department's decision.

"What they're asking for is a lot, and it's not something at this particular point in time we have the technical ability to do," Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said Tuesday.

"It sounds like incredible negligence for an agency that is keeping public records to keep them in such a precarious condition," said Stephen Doig, interim director at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. "I've never heard the excuse that making the equivalent of a backup copy would somehow cause steam to rise out of the computer."

 

[chicagomom]

Quote:

"We believe the Department of Justice reclassified the information to stifle congressional oversight of the department and shield it from legitimate public inquiry," said Danielle Brian, POGO's executive director. "It is absurd to reclassify information that has been in the public domain for so long. This is an entirely inappropriate use of the classification system."

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1731

 

[TiredX2]

DOJ= our newest oxymoron