Open Government in the Digital Age: The Legislative History of How Congress Established a Right of Public Access to Electronic Information Held by Federal Agencies

Abstract

Computerization of government records has become routine in the digital age. In light of rapid advances in information technology, it is, therefore, increasingly important that public access to government-held information is ensured. Congress passed the Electronic Freedom of Information Act of 1996 (EFOIA) to solve problems of access by making clear that the Freedom of Information Act applies equally to records in computerized formats as well as to records in paper and other conventional forms. The law also requires federal agencies to use the Internet to publicize a wide variety of government documents. This article traces how the EFOIA developed—from a brief and obscure passage in a 1974 Senate committee report, which recognized that computerized recordkeeping may change the contours of public access to government information, up to the EFOIA's enactment twenty-two years later.