US: FOI covers emails in Dallas case

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on October 31, 2007 at 10:23 AM

A state court has ruled in favor of a request by The Dallas Morning News to obtain emails sent by city officials, including from their personal accounts or hand-held devices. This is the first case of the Texas Public Information Act being extended to (personal) emails.

"This case is very significant," said David Starr, vice president and deputy general counsel of Belo Corp, parent company of the Dallas Morning News.

"It's the first Texas court decision addressing whether e-mails relating to city business that are sent or received on a personal e-mail account are subject to disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act."

Under Texas law, government correspondence, including e-mail, is considered public, unless protected otherwise.

Not only that, the ruling implies that electronic information can be made public, notwithstanding of the device it was sent through (city officials have argued that the emails were personal because sent from personal mobile devices).

But “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," said Charles Davis, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition.

It took 22 months for the court to decide in favor of the News reporters who requested to see the emails. They had filed their request in late 2005.

Source: The Dallas Morning News through Poynter Romenesko