The Energy Department blocked about 2,200 attempts this year by users seeking to get data from its websites in ways that endangered equal access to the agency’s widely followed economic reports. The users were blocked because they asked for too much information or submitted too many requests for data, exceeding limits set by the agency. Officials disclosed the total in response to a request from The Wall Street Journal. The previously undisclosed number of blocked users is the latest sign of challenges facing government agencies and other information gatherers as they try to guard the data before releasing it to investors in an era of high-speed trading and nonstop technological advancement. It isn’t clear whether blocked users were traders trying to be among the first to see data such as gasoline prices and natural-gas storage; hackers hoping to snare the information before its release to the public; or unwitting […]