First published through The Paris News on March 17, 2017. The article can be found on their website at http://theparisnews.com/opinion/article_3b2e6904-0b2b-11e7-a011-af355aedeb65.html

For many years now, since I found out about the Freedom of Information Act, I wanted to see what kind of a backlog of information the FBI had on me. So, I decided to utilize the Freedom of Information/Privacy Act and do just that.

There’s really no underlying reason I decided to request the information; I was just curious. I’m sure I’ll find out about a few broken bones I’ve experienced and a few medical bills. I’m mostly interested in the things they know about me that even I either don’t know I’ve done, or something I’ve forgotten about doing.

They give you two options when requesting information. You can go with the snail mail by requesting the information via letter form. However, it could take a bit longer that way, because they do the information requests on a first come first serve basis.

Due to my impatience, I took advantage of the digital age and used the eFOIPA portal. The portal was really simple to work through. The terms of service was fairly short, stating how the portal worked and what requests could be made. Since I was requesting information digitally, I should receive the information electronically, too.

After entering your email, confirming you’re not a robot — if you are, I won’t judge — and clicking on the link sent to your email, you then get the chance to request information either about yourself or an organization.

There may be a fee necessary to receive the information you’re looking for. For personal information, there are four different options. Option one was to request to waive the fee; option two was to request to waive the fee, but if the fee wasn’t waved then the fee could be paid; option three was free but with only two hours of work put into the research and up to 100 duplicated pages; and the last option was to pay additional fees, where you get to choose how much you’re willing to pay. My question about the latter was, if I were to pay $10 extra would they work the two free hours and only work for about an extra 45 minutes depending on how much they already make per hour?

However, I chose the free option with the two hours and 100 pages. If they have more than 100 pages on me, something isn’t right, or I’ve been suffering from amnesia for the past 25 years.

Everyone has the option to request information for either themselves, a deceased relative or an organization. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, this gives us the opportunity to ensure the government and/or officials aren’t doing things they shouldn’t.