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NSA Claims It Can’t Watch a Tape It Recorded in the 1980s (gizmodo.com)

submitted 4 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] GamingChairModel@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Who determines whats reasonable?

The government decides that, and then if the requestor doesn't like it, they can kick it to a court for review.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 0 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

So its the citizen that has to go to court over it, shame.

I still propose that in cases like the above tape we should try and request any information about it as possible.

What are its exact dimensions?

From what materials is the tape build? Can we get a description of its smell?

Any text of markings on it or the box/closet it is stored in?

What facility is the tape housed?

Is there a record of who has previously seen or borrowed it?

At some point someone may actually get something useful they can start tracking with.

[–] LustyArgonianMana@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

It's actually not a shame you can go to court over that. That's actually excellent we still have that right intact.

[–] GamingChairModel@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

So its the citizen that has to go to court over it, shame.

That's the system. Congress created a way to encourage government agencies to make their records public, and a mechanism to get the courts involved to oversee it. Before that, there was no public entitlement to the records in the first place, and no way to get the courts to order the agency to do anything about it.

I still propose that in cases like the above tape we should try and request any information about it as possible.

I'm pretty sure that's already required. That's why we know what we know about this case:

The NSA’s excuse? It didn’t have anything to play the tapes back, couldn’t listen to them, and therefore couldn’t clear them for release. “When the search was conducted, our office reached out to the organization that would have the tape you requested if it still exists. We were informed that although there are some older video tapes that are potentially responsive, they are on a format that NSA no longer has the ability to view or digitize,” the NSA FOIA office said in a follow-up. “Without being able to view the tapes, NSA has no way to verify their responsiveness. NSA is not required to find or obtain new technology (outdated or current) in order to process a request.”

Ravnitzky asked the NSA for pictures of the tapes and they complied. The pictures revealed the tapes were recorded on an AMPEX 1-inch Video Tape Recorder. There were three different standardized types of AMPEX machines, but it wouldn’t be impossible to find a device that could play back the tapes. A cursory search on eBay revealed dozens of machines that might fit the bill.

If they end up finding a mutually agreeable solution, great. But it doesn't even sound like they're done negotiating, before filing a lawsuit. If it gets to that point, then I'm sure the court will want to know all the details and make a judgment call on whether the request is reasonable.