On 19 March 2009, the administration of United States Presidency issued a new set of guidelines to federal agencies on implementation of the federal Freedom of Information Act.
The guidelines follow the memorandum issued by the incoming President Obama on 21 January 2009 in which the President said
"The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails. ... The presumption of disclosure also means that agencies should take affirmative steps to make information public.
The guidelines also note that the OPEN Government Act of 2007 (P.L. No. 110-175) requires all agencies to use modern technology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government. The law requires assignment of individualized tracking numbers to requests for information that will take longer than ten days to process and a telephone line or Internet service that requesters can use to inquire about the status of their requests.
[Source: U.S. Department of Justice]
