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Monday, January 28, 2008

Ind. Gov't. - Is a public employee's history of internet usage subject to public records access?

Should a public employee's computer browser's list of previous internet sites visited be considered a "public record", required to be disclosed via a public records request?

That is the question addressed in this informal opinion dated Jan. 4, 2008, answering a question posed to the Indiana Public Access Counselor last July.

Of course, we have seen this on TV crime shows -- a check of the victim or suspect's computer discloses the last sites they were looking at before they disappeared -- restaurants, travels sites, porn, etc. These are stored in the web browser as "history," which can be wiped clean at will by the user, or can be automatically retained.

PAC Heather Willis Neal concludes her opinion:

[M]y opinion is that if an agency does somehow proactively create a record containing the internet history from a public employee’s computer (e.g. printing out or electronically saving a regular report), that would likely constitute a public record disclosable under the APRA [access to public records act] unless an exception to disclosure regarding the subject matter exists in section 4 of the APRA. It is further my opinion that as a general rule the internet history from a public employee’s, official’s, or agency’s computer is not a public record for purposes of the APRA. While a public official’s or employee’s usage of a public computer may be a public integrity question, such issues are not within the purview of this office.
In sum, says the PAC, the information stored in the web browser is not a public record subject to the disclosure law, but if that information (of, for example, an agency's employees' history of browser usage) is regularly compiled into a report, the report itself would be a public document.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 28, 2008 09:27 AM
Posted to Indiana Government