FOIA Department

by Black Box, an independent documentary studio.

What it is

FOIA Department is an internal tool used only by our own team. It helps us file public records requests with U.S. law enforcement agencies under state open records laws, keep track of their replies, and organize the records we receive for our documentary work.

How it uses Google

• Gmail: to send our public records requests from our own mailbox and to read the agencies' replies to them.
• Google Drive: to store the records that agencies release to us, in folders the tool creates itself.

The tool is not offered to the public and does not access anyone else's account.