The strangest FOIA redactions (and FOIA releases) MuckRock has seen over the years

[Editor's note: We're happy to help our public record ninja friends at Muckrock celebrate Sunshine Week with this tribute to the censor's heavy hand -Cory]

After nine years and over 60,000 requests, MuckRock has been witness to some pretty impressive efforts to keep public information from the public. In the spirit of Sunshine Week, weve compiled some of the weirdest, wildest, and downright hilarious redactions weve received.

In a release of records related to Scientology, the FBI included a short, fictionalized dialogue between a former member of the Church and "the star reporter of The Daily Planet. Though the Bureau redacted the reporters name, citing their right to privacy, its not that hard to guess that our intrepid interviewer is Clark Kent - better known as the alter-ego of Superman.

The ever-vigilant FBI, keeping us safe from sunlight-seeking supervillains, yet again.

In response to a request for emails related to a now-infamous video showing FCC Chairman doing the Harlem Shake to downplay the importance Net Neutrality, the agency at first rejected the request in its entirety, saying that releasing that information would have a "chilling effect" on the FCCs ability to perform its duties. After an appeal, the agency released redacted versions of the emails citing the same exemption. After that was appealed, the FCC, likely fearing a lawsuit, finally released unredacted copies revealing that it had spent the last year trying to prevent the release of an email that simply stated Ok.

Perhaps there were concerns that the period came off as passive-aggressive. Read the rest