“Third Exemption” Increase Troubles Open Government Advocates

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The growing use of the statutory exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act, often approved by Congress without debate or legislative discussion, is troubling open government advocates, the Cox News Service reports. It says Congress is more and more giving into private sector business interests that want to protect information they consider proprietary. One currently before Congress would exempt livestock identification numbers that would be part of a tracking systems designed as a disease a protection measure. In an appropriations bill last year, Congress exempted information tracking firearms. “Backdoor secrecy,” one critic said. (6/6/05)