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Sunday, August 9, 2009

UPDATE: City of Kirkland's Public Records Request Form Illegal?

Piper Scott at EFF's Libertylive.org blog writes about the City of Kirkland's public records request form, which asks (as an "optional" inquiry) why the requestor wants the records and what the requestor intends to do with the records.

That pesky Public Records Act provides (emphasis added): "Agencies shall not distinguish among persons requesting records, and such persons shall not be required to provide information as to the purpose for the request [with an exception for commercial use of records]."

We'll be watching this one.

UPDATE: Well, the City of Kirkland did the right thing and changed its public records request form in response to a letter from Tim Ford, the Attorney General's Open Government Ombudsman. Kudos to EFF's Libertylive.org blog for bringing some attention to this.

See, we highlight good governmental behavior whenever possible.
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