The year 2012 saw more Freedom of Information Act requests than any time in the law’s history. The Administrative Conference of the United States says about 650,000 requests came in and it cost the federal government at least $23 million in litigation costs, and it considers that cost a conservative estimate. Gavin Baker is an open government analyst at the Center for Effective Government. He wrote about the recommendations in the center’s blog, The Fine Print, and shared them on In Depth with Jared Serbu.

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