Last month we told you about the city's attempt to block EyeOnAlbuquerque.com and MarioBurgos.com (read it here). Now our Eyes tell us that the city is taking another approach. Apparently, too much of the city's behind the scenes dirty laundry is showing up on our lovable little website in the form of anonymous posts. So, the city has decided to install tracking software that will allow them to determine who's posting what using city owned computers and gateways.
First of all, we don't see anything illegal about the city installing and using tracking software on computers owned by the city in order to track what employees are doing using city equipment and presumably on city time. In our opinion, it's really no different than placing tracking devices on city vehicles; it may be creepy and Orwellian, but not illegal.
However, (you knew this was coming) since the city is essentially recording the content being generated by their computers and subsequently being posted on EyeOnAlbuquerque.com, they are creating an electronic record of that employee's activities; that record would be no different than any other electronic correspondence.
Emails the most popular type of computer generated correspondence, are considered part of the public record and can be the target of a Freedom of Information Request. Therefore, if the city is recording data that indicates what Internet sites an employee is visiting and the comments being posted by that employee on a specific Internet site, those records should be public and subject to a FOIR.
We'd love to get our Eyes on where the boys on the 5th and 11th floors are spending their time and our money. But, we'd wager that those computers would be conveniently left off the list of computers to be tracked; similar to the recent email system "crash" that wiped out a number of emails shortly after Marty's Minions Barry Bitzer and Greg Payne got caught with their hand in the electronic cookie jar (Heath Haussamen - read it here). These yahoos ought to learn that getting rid of computer records is really not an easy thing to do and creating even more just to try and ferret out dissenters is probably an unwise course of action.
Showing posts with label Inspection of Public Records Act. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inspection of Public Records Act. Show all posts
Nov 6, 2007
May 16, 2007
Ignore Him!
A couple of weeks ago Mayor Martin Chavez announced his open-government initiative. He was roundly praised for the idea of making government more accessible to those who are governed. We agree that our government should be open to inspection for any citizen that wishes to take the time to review the records and documents that are the byproduct of all government agencies.
The Albuquerque Journal in a story dated May 7th, 2007 outlined some of the proposal's main points the first of which was:
According to our Eyes, Silvio Dell'Angela, President of SWAT (Stop Wasting Albuquerque's Taxes) has been pursuing a formal request to review all documents relating to the formation of Councilor Benton's 19th Century Streetcar Task Force. As is usual for these types of requests, they're time consuming and in general a pain in the $#@ for the departments required to produce records. It's no surprise that requests of this nature often meet resistance.
So it goes in this case. According to our Eyes Mr. Dell'Angela has been nothing if not persistent and it comes as no surprise that he has ruffled a few feathers. We were forwarded an email thread in which city attorney Bruce T. Thompson apparently instructs other city departments to "ignore him." Unfortunately for Mr. Thompson, it looks to us like he used mother of all screw-ups button - "Reply All." Guess who was also on the distribution list? Yep! Silvio Dell'Angela.
Open-government is not something that is legislated as much as it is something that is practiced. Creating laws like the state's Inspection of Public Records Act is a good idea, but what good does it do when city officials simply choose to "ignore" the request, misplace the records, or maintain that they don't even exist?
Average citizens don't have the resources to prove these claims false and must accept them at face value. We would suggest that before Mayor Marty worries about creating an ordinance addressing open-government, that he begin to practice open-government within his own administration. He can start by making sure Mr. Dell'Angela gets all of the information that he has requested AND by producing an APD roster complete with assignments for all of APD's sworn and non-sworn employees.
The Albuquerque Journal in a story dated May 7th, 2007 outlined some of the proposal's main points the first of which was:
"An open-records ordinance would define city procedures for responding to requests for documents. It will call for cooperation from all city employees, elected officials, contractors and subcontractors. Every city department, board, commission and committee, as well as the City Council, would designate a records custodian to cooperate with the city clerk in responding to requests" - ABQ Journal (Subscription Required)We found that particularly curious considering we already have a New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (PDF). Therefore, the city is already obligated to provide information and records upon request.
14-2-7 D. A custodian receiving a written request shall permit the inspection immediately or as soon as is practicable under the circumstances, but not later than fifteen days after receiving a written request. If the inspection is not permitted within three business days, the custodian shall explain in writing when the records will be available for inspection or when the public body will respond to the request. The three-day period shall not begin until the written request is delivered to the office of the custodian.There are some cases where public records can be withheld, but in general the government agency that receives a request has 15 days to provide access to the records. Which brings us back to our friends downtown...
According to our Eyes, Silvio Dell'Angela, President of SWAT (Stop Wasting Albuquerque's Taxes) has been pursuing a formal request to review all documents relating to the formation of Councilor Benton's 19th Century Streetcar Task Force. As is usual for these types of requests, they're time consuming and in general a pain in the $#@ for the departments required to produce records. It's no surprise that requests of this nature often meet resistance.
So it goes in this case. According to our Eyes Mr. Dell'Angela has been nothing if not persistent and it comes as no surprise that he has ruffled a few feathers. We were forwarded an email thread in which city attorney Bruce T. Thompson apparently instructs other city departments to "ignore him." Unfortunately for Mr. Thompson, it looks to us like he used mother of all screw-ups button - "Reply All." Guess who was also on the distribution list? Yep! Silvio Dell'Angela.
From: Thompson, Bruce T.Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2:19 PMSubject: RE: Inspection of Public Records Act Request dated May 12, 2007 and May 13, 2007Ignore him!
As the city is already required by law to comply with records inspection requests, we hope that Mr. Thompson an attorney was not instructing city personnel to ignore Mr. Dell'Angela's request. We're not an attorney, but wouldn't that be a direct and willful violation of the law?
Open-government is not something that is legislated as much as it is something that is practiced. Creating laws like the state's Inspection of Public Records Act is a good idea, but what good does it do when city officials simply choose to "ignore" the request, misplace the records, or maintain that they don't even exist?
Average citizens don't have the resources to prove these claims false and must accept them at face value. We would suggest that before Mayor Marty worries about creating an ordinance addressing open-government, that he begin to practice open-government within his own administration. He can start by making sure Mr. Dell'Angela gets all of the information that he has requested AND by producing an APD roster complete with assignments for all of APD's sworn and non-sworn employees.
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