"At its core, the FBI is a political force that primarily targets the left, ignoring or outright aiding the right". - #FOIA expert Ryan Shapiro at #AaronSwartzDay
"We were able to show that years before the JSTOR investigation and prosecution [of Aaron Swartz], the FBI had been preposterously looking at Aaron in the context of an al Qaeda anti-terrorist investigation" - Ryan Shapiro on his investigative work using the Freedom of Information Act (#FOIA)
"I started submitting thousands of [FOIA] requests and it started to work. Started to map out the FBI's strategies for noncompliance." - Ryan Shapiro explaining his use of Freedom of Information Act requests.
Ryan Shapiro recounting his early career: "The FBI tried to put us in prison as terrorists for doing things like undercover investigations of factory farms.."
Ryan Shapiro not holding back: "It's not just the malignancy and greed of these people, it's how unfettered they're going to be in enacting their odious plans."
First guest: Ryan Shapiro, #FOIA expert and co-founder of the national security transparency non-profit Property of the People (https://propertyofthepeople.org/).