MuckRock is a United States-based 501(c)(3)

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

which assists anyone in filing governmental requests for information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other public record laws around the United States, then publishes the returned information on its website and encourages journalism around it.

History

MuckRock was founded by Michael Morisy and Mitchell Kotler, graduates of

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

. The site's beta version went online in May 2010, and was part of the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''’s GlobeLab incubator program. MuckRock was granted a 501(c)(3) non-profit status by the IRS in June 2016. On June 11, 2018, MuckRock announced they would be merging with

DocumentCloud DocumentCloud is an open-source software as a service platform that allows users to upload, analyze, annotate, collaborate on and publish primary source documents. Since its launch in 2009, it has been used primarily by journalists to find informa ...

. In 2016, the FOIA Machine project merged with MuckRock. FOIA Machine is a service that helps make FOIA requests for free. FOIA Machine was a separate organization hosted by The Center for Investigative Reporting and funded by the Knight Foundation, the Reynolds Institute of Journalism, and a crowdfunding campaign. The two projects decided to merge due to their shared goals and past partnerships. MuckRock agreed to continue providing FOIA Machine for free.

Operation

Filing requests for information through the Freedom of Information Act and other public record laws around the United States has been described as confusing and tedious, despite the intent that the process be public and the service available to all American citizens. MuckRock partially automates the process with an interface designed to make the filing of requests easier. Also, MuckRock acts as a middleman for processing the requests, so when a user makes a request through MuckRock, it is the staff of MuckRock who themselves make the request. When MuckRock makes the request, they note and timestamp it on their website as proof of it being made. When a reply comes to the request, MuckRock publishes and timestamps it openly so that everyone can see the reply and when it was made.

Information shared

In 2010, MuckRock received a notice that the government had sent MuckRock information about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program which was secret and that MuckRock must cease publishing it or its staff would face fines and jail time. The state later said that it would not jail MuckRock staff. The

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

suspended an automatic number plate recognition program because of privacy concerns raised after a MuckRock request. MuckRock made numerous requests to various United States state and federal agencies regarding their work with

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

. The response from the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

was a bill for $270,000 to fulfill the request. MuckRock's request to the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

for their guidebook on responding to FOIA requests was denied due to it being a confidential document.

Lawsuit

In June 2014 MuckRock sued the CIA under the Freedom of Information Act for "consistently ignoring deadlines, refusing to work with requesters, and capriciously rejecting even routine requests for what should be clearly public information". The Lawsuit is current as of 2020.

Partners

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has made public records requests with MuckRock.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.muckrock.com 2010 establishments in the United States 501(c)(3) organizations Classified documents Freedom of Information Act (United States) Freedom of information in the United States Information sensitivity Internet properties established in 2010 Non-profit organizations based in Massachusetts Non-profit organizations based in the United States Public records United States federal government administration legislation