Sunshine Week is a national initiative
to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom
of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news
media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others
interested in the public's right to know.
Though spearheaded by journalists,
Sunshine Week is about the public's right to know what its government
is doing, and why. Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people
to play an active role in their government at all levels, and to give
them access to information that makes their lives better and their
communities stronger.
Sunshine Week is a nonpartisan initiative whose supporters are conservative, liberal and everything in between.
VIDEO: Bob Freeman talks about open meetings as part of Sunshine
Week
March 16, 2010
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With
our thanks to
Robert J. Freeman Executive Director Committee
On Open Government New York State Department of State
and Poughkeepsie
Journal
and
Poughkeepsie Journal TV
FOI in NY: Improving the Law through
Information Technology
By Robert J. Freeman Executive Director Committee On Open Government Department of State Albany New York
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Description
The New
York Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) was first enacted in 1974 and
later replaced with the key elements of the current version of the law
in 1978. Think of the 70's: high tech was an electric typewriter, and
many of us used carbon paper to make copies. PC’s were not on our desks
or in our homes, and the internet and email and had not yet become part
of our lives.
Article
The New York Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) was
first enacted in 1974 and later replaced with the key elements of the
current version of the law in 1978. Think of the 70's: high tech was an
electric typewriter, and many of us used carbon paper to make
copies. PC’s were not on our desks or in our homes, and the internet and
email and had not yet become part of our lives.
When we were drafting the new law in
1977, we couldn’t have predicted the future. But we got lucky. It was a
time when we began to think about how the law might apply to
computerized information. Since 1978, FOIL has applied to all records of
state and local government agencies and, most importantly, has defined
the term “record” to include any information “in any physical form
whatsoever” kept, held, filed produced or reproduced by, with or for a
government agency. That means that FOIL applies to the old-fashioned 8 ½
by 11 sheet of paper, as well as the content of databases, email,
videotapes - - in short, anything that contains information and is
maintained by or for the government is a “record” that falls within the
coverage of FOIL and is accessible, in whole or in part, depending on
its content and the effects of disclosure.
We at the Committee on Open
Government, which was created as part of FOIL, are constantly trying to
find ways to make the law work better for citizens. Five years ago, we
learned that the Mexican government placed terminals throughout the
country and that 90% of the requests made under the new Mexican access
to information law were made and answered via email. That led to our
recommendation to amend the New York law, and a single sentence added to
the law in 2006 is changing the relationship between the public and the
government. Very simply, when an agency has the ability to accept
requests made via email, it must do so. More importantly, when you ask
that records be made available via email and the agency can do so with
reasonable effort, it is required to honor your request.
That means that you can request
records at 4 in the morning, that often you can get the equivalent of a
thick report quickly and easily, and because the only fee that can be
charged under FOIL involves the reproduction of records, it’s free. Even
government agencies have come to favor the new email provisions. Nobody
has to search through files to retrieve paper records, nobody has to
stand at the photocopy machine, and nobody has to do the paperwork
associated with charging a fee for photocopies. It’s a “win-win”
situation.
The email provision has led to a
development which is also clearly beneficial to the public and
government agencies. When agencies conclude that certain records are
clearly public and frequently requested, they post them on their Web
sites. When they do, citizens don’t have to submit FOIL requests, and
the agency doesn’t have to answer them - - the records are simply there
for the taking. Another win-win.
This is all part of a trend, a trend
recognized here and by President Obama. One day after taking office, the
President issued a directive to federal agencies that stressed what has
become known as “proactive disclosure.” That means that instead of
waiting for requests, the government posts records of significance to
the public on their Web sites.
We hear frequently of “transparency”,
and the advances in information technology coupled with a law written in
a way that has accommodated those advances have enabled New Yorkers to
obtain government information more easily than ever. Certainly that
trend is here to stay.
Robert J. Freeman Executive Director Committee
on Open Government Department
of State Albany, NY 12231 Phone:
(518)474-2518 Web
site:www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/index.html
Sunshine Week is a national initiative
to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom
of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news
media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others
interested in the public's right to know.
