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Public Records
Folks,
Not to beat this to death but you should look at your state records
law and/or any guidelines issued by the responsible agency that define
both records and non-records. Most states follow the federal definition
that basically defines records (in the public sector) as any documentary
materials, regardless of physical form or format, made or received
by a government agency. As I noted in an earlier post many states
have explicitly placed archival material outside this definition.
However, as previously noted in the Texas case, if this is not the case
you may have a problem of restricting access.
I think there may also be a definitional problem here. There
are actually two types of public records in governmental agencies.
These are the business or official records of the agency made or received
in the normal course of business. Some of these may be restricted
because they are legally protected from access under FOIA (e.g., attorney-client
records, medical records, student records, etc.). These may still
be discoverable in litigation or by other entities such as BOMEX.
Non-business "records" in an agency may also be public. That is,
your "private" e-mail sent to your Aunt Tilly is subject to FOIA request.
I hear from our attorney's and others that this type of record is the biggest
driver of FOIA requests for e-mail records. This is why it is very
problematical for one to use public resources to conduct your private business
or correspondence-there is always the chance you might wind up reading
such material on the front page of the local newspaper. Again, just
my private opinion and not legal advice. Dick King, University of
Arizona.