Transparency Tip: Scouring Public Records with Scout
If you do any kind of shopping online, then you’re probably already familiar with the concept of a metasearch engine—a search engine that searches other search engines. When you’re looking for airline tickets or a used copy of The King in Yellow, you might use a metasearch engine to find out which online retailer is offering the best price.
There is also a metasearch for public records: Scout. Created and lovingly maintained by the Sunlight Foundation, Scout will take a search query and run it through six different continually updated databases of documents. The site also allows you to create email and RSS alerts and track search terms and legislation through a user account.
EFF currently maintains a public page that tracks NSA reform, including congressional bills and speeches, official notices, and court opinions. You can visit it to see current reform efforts and subscribe to our alerts.
