Appellate Court says email log need not be created

A New Jersey Appellate Court says OPRA does not require an email log to be created, though the emails themselves are subject to OPRA. Interesting, though, is that in response to a GRC “denial of access” complaint, a custodian must provide an explanation of the search undertaken for records. The search would seem to include creating an email log if that capability exists.

John Paff points out that the Court’s decision is “far-reaching…because it allows government agencies–many of which keep their most useful data electronically–to query their data to create custom reports that are useful to the agencies while relegating the public to get only the reports that the government has already seen fit to prepare.”

-NJFOG

 

Read more here:
 
Significant OPRA loss in Appellate Division: Citizens are denied the benefits of data technology that government agencies routinely enjoy.
NJ Open Government Notes
by John Paff
April 18, 2016