MuckRock

File a FOIA for free in honor of International Women’s Day

by Beryl Lipton
March 07, 2016

March 8 is International Women’s Day. Born of socialist roots and now officially celebrated by the United Nations and multiple countries around the world, IWD is meant to be a global celebration of women’s achievements and progress, and MuckRock wants to help you join in this year.
Join MuckRock for a Sunshine Week celebration on March 18

by Michael Morisy
March 04, 2016

In Massachusetts and want to learn how to use public records like a pro? Join the MuckRock team and other area openness enthusiasts on March 18, 2016 for an evening of public records strategy, workshopping, and socializing as we celebrate the end of Sunshine Week 2016.
"A dangerous individual" James Baldwin's FBI file

by Beryl Lipton
March 03, 2016

A black man successfully brandishing a pen was cause enough for alarm in Hoover's FBI. Hundreds of pages released in response to a request by MuckRock user Conor Skelding sketch the Feds attempts to keep track of African-American novelist James Baldwin, capturing soundbites from the stir of sixties' Civil Rights Movement that continue to resonate today.

Featured projects

The Private Prison Project

Over the past year, our FOIA requests have released thousands of documents that show how for-profit prisons have leveraged the legal system to their advantage, letting companies pick-and-choose inmates to off-load costs, ignore complaints and concerns, and create dangerous conditions for prisoners and staff alike.

This is all done while billions of taxpayer dollars are funneled into these private companies, which then pour millions into politicians' campaigns to keep their growth going.

With your help, we can provide needed scrutiny of an industry few are even aware exists.

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Blank Check: How local police fund themselves with fines and fees

For almost every city around America, fines and fees are a useful law enforcement tool, offering a way to punish everyday infractions without the immediate threat of jail or a permanent mark on a criminal record.

But what happens when governments stop thinking of fines as a deterrent, but as a crucial source of funding? How does it change policing when the goal is neither to serve and protect, but to ensure that the budget doesn't take a hit?

The Sunlight Foundation and MuckRock are partnering to find out.

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Subjects Matter: FBI Files

From Abbie Hoffman to Malcolm X, Ol' Dirty Bastard to the Insane Clown Posse, FBI files read like a veritable Who's Who of the 20th Century.

This project aims to sift through the hundreds of thousands of agency archival material we've managed to get released, so we can better understand why the Bureau had an eye on these people - and though that, better understand who they're keeping tabs on today.

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Must-Seethe TV: FCC Complaints

Everybody's a critic. And now, thanks to the FCC's easy online complaint submission form, it's never been easier to direct those criticisms to the people that need to hear it most - the United States Federal government.

This project aims to collect all the FCC complaints generated by the most critically-acclaimed programs on cable and network television ... as well as plenty of those less critically-acclaimed guilty pleasures at you still don't want to see cancelled any time soon.

Explore this project