ABSTRACT
Although the 1966 Freedom of Information Act was passed to increase transparency and accountability in the government, it has also been turned on its head to harass scientists at public institutions, by allowing industry and antiscience activists to demand every scrap of information about a research project, from marked-up rough drafts and handwritten notes to private telephone records. These sorts of tactics are designed to go beyond simply gaining information needed for reproducibility—they aim to put the maximum amount of psychological and financial pressure on the individuals involved.
