Freedom of information

[boneaddict]

I got this e-mail this morning from Maine's wildlife department.  I wonder if it was just someone trying for Spam type stuff or if it was Anti's trying to get a list of folks.  To appeal it in court must have taken some funds.  I'd think that would discourage the spammers. 

As you know, the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife periodically sends out informational emails to our online customers. We only send these e-mails out to customers who have indicated that they would like to receive them.

Recently, we had a Freedom of Access Act request from an individual who represents an organization for our customer e-mail address list. The Freedom of Access Act is a statute that requires a state agency to provide public records to anyone upon request. Our initial response to the individual was that our customer e-mail address list was not a public record and was therefore not covered by the Freedom of Access Act. The individual appealed our decision with the Maine Attorney General's office that ruled in favor of the individual and directed IF&W to provide our customer e-mail address list to the individual. Therefore, we have recently provided our customer e-mail address list to the requesting individual per the direction of the Maine Attorney General's Office.

The list contains only e-mail addresses, no other personal data is on the list. We wanted you to know that we did everything in our power to protect your privacy and apologize in advance for any issues this may cause you.

[Skillet]

If this isn't already a trend, I'll bet it is up-and-coming.  I would be very interested to know what type of "new" email you get as a result of this.

[ICEMAN]

Yep, any info the state has is public record. A simple public disclosure request is all it takes to get about anything you want. Personally I am conflicted on it but I can not see any other way....   There is a convicted felon in this state who maintains a web pag /database of all state employees names, salaries etc... Cops have their info out in the open, County Assessors have all of our names, addresses etc available....  Not much privacy it seems...

Plus, ever sign a petition? That issue is being fought right now in our state supreme court I believe...