This collection of government records is not maintained by the federal government. 4 Nor is this cache of high-demand records openly available to the public by government agencies-as FOIA's drafters envisioned and the statute requires. 5 Rather, it is provided by private companies on a subscription basis, for a steep fee. 6 As such, an entire industry has developed where private companies use FOIA's request provision to request thousands of government records, compile the acquired information

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... to databases, and then sell access to this compilation to consumers. 7 These companies are not part of, or affiliated with, the federal government, and their work is not authorized or verified by the federal government or the agencies whose records they distribute. The very fact that this industry exists reveals a significant failure by federal agencies to voluntarily provide information in compliance with FOIA, which dictates that such information should be made freely available online by the federal government itself through FOIA's requirement for "proactive disclosures" of records likely to receive at least three requests. 8 While the administration of FOIA has been problematic since its enactment, 9 recent attention has focused on the widespread problem of agency under-utilization of FOIA's proactive disclosures, which has been a growing concern at the forefront of discussions about FOIA's future. 10