3 ms·

Freedom of information acts are for shedding light on government acts and activities. What your neighbour is doing is neither, so the request wouldn't be grante

Freedom of information acts are for shedding light on government acts and activities. What your neighbour is doing is neither, so the request wouldn't be granted. For the city hall member, if you could show that they were doing city business on a city device, you would have a case for why the FOIA request should be granted because that would be a government activity.

chaps 2y ago
Yes, that is what FOIA is. I've submitted probably over 3k requests and, well, you're WAY simplifying the extent of the issues and the dynamics of these things. For example -- is your neighbor's email address suddenly public once they email someone within a government agency? Why? Why not? And you're wrong about the city hall member topic. I specifically mentioned "in session" because in many municipalities, the activities they do while in session are responsive to FOIA. That includes their browser history. Regardless of the device they're using.
Gormo 2y ago
> Freedom of information acts are for shedding light on government acts and activities. What your neighbour is doing is neither, so the request wouldn't be granted. That's not exactly true. FOIA requirements often make the records of government entities subject to public release, and if a government entity is running an ISP, it's not clear that records that include sensitive information about their customers would necessarily be excluded. Lots of information about housing, land ownership, vehicle ownership, among many other things, is indeed public record, and includes a lot of PII. I just don't understand the fascination with government-run ISPs. If it was economically feasible for a municipal government to run an ISP, why not just organize a community non-profit to do it instead, and avoid all of the pitfalls of mixing politics -- with both its peculiar incentives and unique constraints -- with service provision?

chaps 2y ago

Yes, that is what FOIA is. I've submitted probably over 3k requests and, well, you're WAY simplifying the extent of the issues and the dynamics of these things. For example -- is your neighbor's email address suddenly public once they email someone within a government agency? Why? Why not? And you're wrong about the city hall member topic. I specifically mentioned "in session" because in many municipalities, the activities they do while in session are responsive to FOIA. That includes their browser history. Regardless of the device they're using.

Gormo 2y ago

> Freedom of information acts are for shedding light on government acts and activities. What your neighbour is doing is neither, so the request wouldn't be granted. That's not exactly true. FOIA requirements often make the records of government entities subject to public release, and if a government entity is running an ISP, it's not clear that records that include sensitive information about their customers would necessarily be excluded. Lots of information about housing, land ownership, vehicle ownership, among many other things, is indeed public record, and includes a lot of PII. I just don't understand the fascination with government-run ISPs. If it was economically feasible for a municipal government to run an ISP, why not just organize a community non-profit to do it instead, and avoid all of the pitfalls of mixing politics -- with both its peculiar incentives and unique constraints -- with service provision?