[10534] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: FOI Request for Database
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John T. Hickey, Ithaca College Lib)
Mon Aug 19 20:26:36 1996
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 15:21:27 -0500 (CDT)
From: "John T. Hickey, Ithaca College Library" <JHICKEY@liber.ithaca.edu>
In-Reply-To: <199608141857.LAA09967@post.everett.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Well, yes, this sure sounds like a wierd interpretation of a
Freedom of Information Act. Is this a state law being enforced?
How does a mailing list of private citizens who most probably did
not provide for their names, etc., to be released, become a
government document accessible under FOIA-type principles? How
does a shirttail section of a state bureaucracy (sorry!) get into
this situation? Certainly the FOIA on the federal level is
notorious for its use to gain competitive advantage (through
requests for product info submitted by bidders for government
contracts), but this particular application really seems to
stretch the law and violate some other privacy rights in the
process. But your lawyers are supposed to know their stuff. Ask
them what they know about state privacy laws. In some states,
library users' records, even their use of a library, are
protected by laws relating specifically to library use or more
generally to privacy rights.
If all else fails, see what you can charge for servicing FOIA
requests, & charge the max legal.
John Hickey jhickey@liber.ithaca.edu
