These two cases, which are similar to the Tracy Press' pending suit over a councilwoman's e-mails, recently crossed my desk. One is settled, and the other is before a state supreme court.
• A state district judge in Texas has ruled that the city of Dallas must release e-mails requested nearly two years before by The Dallas Morning News, including messages from a city official's BlackBerry and personal e-mail account.
"This is a really important decision," said Charles Davis, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. "One of the arguments we're seeing emerge among public officials is that certain delivery platforms or technological devices should be, by their very nature, private, because they own them, or they keep them in their pocket. The delivery platform doesn't make any difference. It's what the content of the message is. If the content of the message is about governing, then it should be public."
• The Ohio Supreme Court has taken a case in which a retired prosecutor has sued a state representative for e-mail and text messages from private accounts that pertain to state business. Attorney General Marc Dann has said that both are public documents if they deal with government business, even if they come from private accounts
Monday, January 28, 2008
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