[9525] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Advisory Committee resources
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (James Love)
Fri Jan 7 15:02:11 1994
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 1994 14:52:15 -0500 (EST)
From: James Love <love@essential.org>
Reply-To: James Love <love@essential.org>
To: Stephen Wolff <steve@nsf.gov>
Cc: The future Ross Stapleton-Gray <STAPLETON@bpa.arizona.edu>,
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.07.9401071457.B16943-c100000@mon.cise.nsf.gov>
On Fri, 7 Jan 1994, Stephen Wolff wrote:
> Thus the deliberations of an advisory committee are open to the public -
> both at meetings and via the minutes, and any reports the committee might
> make and deliver to the government are thereupon subject to FOIA.
>
> BUT: There is (as far as I know) NO law (FOIA or other) that
> correspondence (electronic or otherwise) among advisory committee members
> be public. Nor if that correspondence were stored on the computers of the
> committee members or any other private machine need it be open to the
> public. BUT, if it were stored on a government computer, it WOULD be
> subject to FOIA. Thus the government, in trying to accommodate its
> advisory committee by providing storage, would subject its members to
> unwarranted invasion of their privacy which is not required by law.
>
> This is NOT a question of trying to "get around FOIA," but of avoiding its
> inappropriate application.
>
Maybe I am missing something here, but why would the correspondence
be stored on a government computer in the first place. If M. Kapor wants
to send a note to E. Dyson, he doen't have to use the IITF. I think the
answer is that people want to use lists and conferences to hold meetings
electronically. These meeting would be public if they were held in
person, and the correspondence would be public if it was on paper. We
aren't talking about a group of private citizens lobbying the government,
we are talking about an offical advisory council on the NII, that we be
making policy recommendations. What is supposed to be discussed in
these conferences that can't be made public? jamie
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James Love, Taxpayer Assets Project; internet: love@essential.org
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036; v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176
12 Church Road, Ardmore, PA 19003; v. 215/658-0880; f. 215/649-4066
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