Justice department database kept offline

Timely, Effective and Fair? Justice Department makes a valuable public database all but inaccessible By Bob Williams, Center for Public Integrity, September 13, 2005.

It is a detailed database that could be shining a constant light on the shadowy and complicated world of Washington lobbyists working for foreign governments and overseas companies, a potentially invaluable tool for promoting government transparency, honesty and accountability.

Instead, the Foreign Agent Registration Act database housed at the Justice Department— which is a public record by law—is a shadowy, complicated beast. And that seems to be just fine with the government officials in charge of it.

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