How to Get Your FBI File

Architecture and Background

Marcia Hofmann - How To Get Your FBI File (and Other Information You Want from the Federal Government) Want to know the story behind the latest government scandal, or see what a three-letter agency knows about you? In this workshop, the Electronic Frontier Foundation will show you how to use two open government laws, the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act, to ask for records from the federal government.

Vulnerability Analysis

We'll discuss what you can (and can't) get under these laws, how to write an effective open government request, how to appeal an agency's decision to withhold information, and how to figure out next steps. Marcia Hofmann is a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where she focuses on electronic privacy, computer crime, and other civil liberties issues.

Exploitation and Demonstrations

Documents made public though her Freedom of Information Act work have been reported by the New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio, Fox News, and CNN, among others. Prior to joining EFF, Marcia was Staff Counsel and Director of the Open Government Project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), where she worked on a broad range of privacy issues and spearheaded EPIC's efforts to learn about emerging government policies in the post-9/11 era.

Remediation and Defensive Strategies

She is a graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law and Mount Holyoke College. For copies of the slides and additional materials please see the DEF CON 18 Archive here: