FOIA Definition

The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is a law that gives American citizens access to public records and information the government collects. It is often referred to the law that puts Americans in the know. It effectively creates transparency and accountability of the information the government collects and archives on it’s citizens. As a result, most everyone’s public record is available for anyone else to look up.

History of The FOIA

The Freedom of Information Act was signed into effect on July 4, 1996 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This act pertains to the federal government only, however many states have adopted their own version of the Freedom of Information Act. This idea is not a new one and was adopted from the Administrative Procedure Act ( APA ) of 1946. This act effectively gave agencies broad discretion over publicly disclosing government collected information. The APA act was used as a foundation for the current FOIA.

Government Public Records You Can Lookup

Because of the Freedom of Information Act anyone can lookup most any public record such as; civil records, police records, criminal records, driving records, lien records, phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, court records, lien records and more. Its our right as American citizens to know the information that is collected on each and everyone of us.  As we always say at Search Quarry … “Information is Freedom”

Additional FOIA Information

FOIA.gov

History of FOIA

Public Records Search by person

* Tip When Looking up Government Public Records …  Make sure to cross reference multiple fields of data when looking up someone’s public records. Many people have common names and in order to insure you’ve found the right public record for the right person use a birth date and address to verify you’ve found the correct record. You might be shocked to find what information is out there, you might even be surprised what is in your public record.