[alhirzel]

Didn't know about sunshine request - the website[1] - until I searched for this term!

[1]: https://www.sunshinerequest.com/

[tptacek]

This is just FOIA. You don't need any special website or process; just Google [(your state) FOIA] or [(your municipality) FOIA officer]. In Illinois, you can simply email free-form requests for documents and start a 10-day clock on the public body's side.

[alright2565]

The problem is following up. It's hard to understand the process, and what to do when the public body doesn't respond.

If nothing else, the Sunshine Request site is a good place to get form emails for these requests from.

[chaps]

What you do is: you sue. On my 13th FOIA lawsuit and I have a couple more in the works ;)

Depending on where you're from, it's pretty easy to find a pro bono attorney. In Illinois, the plaintiff's attorneys recoup their costs on a successful win.

[tptacek]

Whatever Chaps says about this, take to the bank.

[smalltorch]

Im not sure if there is a way to verify that the one he is talking about, but for public records request muckrock is great.

https://www.muckrock.com

[toomuchtodo]

MuckRock is the gold standard for systematizing FOIA requests imho.

[alhirzel]

Thank you for sharing this!