{
  "id": "1992-august-a-few-tips-on-making-computer-requests",
  "slug": "1992-august-a-few-tips-on-making-computer-requests",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1992-august-a-few-tips-on-making-computer-requests.html",
  "year": 1992,
  "month": "August",
  "monthNum": 8,
  "headline": "A Few Tips on Making Computer Requests",
  "kicker": "",
  "author_name": "Sandra Davidson Scott",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "",
  "summary": "A tipsheet on how to phrase public records requests for computer data, addressed to the correct custodian and specific about format.",
  "keywords": [
    "public records",
    "records requests",
    "tips"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Government & Politics"
  ],
  "technologies": [],
  "full_text": "1. Make requests as specific as possible and direct them to the designated custodian of that particular type of record. Remember that the custodian may need computer experts to handle your request, so requesting a meeting with both the custodian and his or her computer experts at the outset may speed up the process. At the meeting you can discuss such issues as how much of a computer expert's time it would take to retrieve your request.\n\n2. Take time to know your state's computer laws relating to your request before the meeting, including:\n\nExemption laws. These laws which exempt certain records from public disclosure are sometimes scattered throughout the statutes instead of being contained within the chapter or title on access to public records. Be prepared to argue why your request is not exempt.\n\nRedaction laws. If a record you request contains some information that is exempt and some that is open to disclosure, does your law say that the custodian must delete the exempt information and give you the rest? If not, you may have to argue for redaction. (Note that the United States Supreme Court did not rule in favor of redaction of F.B.I. records in Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749 (1989).)\n\nTailoring laws. Do your statutes say that custodians must provide records in computer form or better yet in the format you request if the computer system is capable of doing so? If your statutes don't address tailoring you may have to argue that what you are requesting does not constitute creating a new record. \"We don't have to do programming\" may be an argument you'll face. Think in terms of the ease with which your request can be fulfilled; you may have to argue that a few computer strokes does not constitute programming.\n\nCosts. If your statute reads in terms of \"reasonable\" or \"actual\" cost, be prepared to argue precisely what that imprecise language means. You want to limit the costs to costs of search and copying at a maximum, and you want to avoid paying for overhead.\n\n3. Think twice before filing a lawsuit. If you have \"fuzzy\" statutes, you may be better off living with uncertainty and arguing with custodians than living with a bad court decision. For instance, it may be better to have no court decision if you have statutes that do not address the question of redaction than to have a court decision that says custodians of records do not have to redact records.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "pre-v2",
    "extracted_at": "",
    "verified": true
  },
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  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1992-august-a-few-tips-on-making-computer-requests.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1992-august-a-few-tips-on-making-computer-requests.json"
}