Privacy Exceptions Increasingly Invoked Against FOIA Requests

Privacy exceptions to the federal Freedom of Information Act have been invoked to reject records requests regarding Edward Snowden, Osama bin Laden and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, The Huffington Post's Matt Sledge reports: "Along with a 'deliberative process' exemption that allows an agency to withhold documents produced as part of a decision-making process, the government regularly cites privacy. The exemption often is used validly, to protect personnel or medical records. But other times, it papers over sensitive subjects the government would rather keep secret -- and not just Snowden."