January 2017 Email Metadata (Information Technology, Maryland)

Mr. Chapman-

In your July 13, 2018 e-mail (below) to the Baltimore City Mayor's Office of Information Technology, you requested the senders and addressees and date/time stamp information on "all accounts managed by your department" for "all emails sent during January, 2017."

The Maryland Public Information Act ("PIA"), Maryland Code, General Provisions ("GP"), Sections 4-101, et. seq. governs your request. A request for public information under the PIA must be submitted to the custodian of the records sought. GP § 4-202(a). This response is on behalf of the Mayor's Office of Information Technology, which would not be the custodian of "all emails sent during January, 2017," even if such are done on accounts that the Mayor's Office of Information Technology may assist in managing. GP §4-101.

A request under the PIA must be for existing documentary material. GP §4-101(j)(1). The Mayor's Office of Information Technology has no such record. GP §4-205(c)(4)(i) (no requirement for "custodian to create, compile, or program a new public record"); GP §4-202(d)(1); see Maryland Public Information Act Manual 14th Ed., October 2015, 2-3 ("an agency has no obligation to create records to satisfy a PIA request."). Even if Mayor's Office of Information Technology did possess such a record, the PIA prevents the disclosure of any "list that identifies a physical address, an e-mail address, or a telephone number of an individual that is used by a governmental entity or an elected official" for the purpose of periodically sending news about the official activities of the governmental entity or sending informational notices of emergency alerts. GP §4-341. Thus, even if the custodian did have a responsive record, which it does not, it would have to be reviewed and redacted for such information in order to prevent disclosure of the e-mail addresses that fall within this exemption. GP §4-401. As that review would be time consuming since it would require determining which email addresses were associated with such lists, there would be associated charges. GP §4-206.

Nothing in this response is intended to indicate that records sought from City agencies exist or to waive any privileges held by the Mayor and City Council. You may contest this response by filing a complaint in Circuit Court pursuant to GP section 4-362.

Sincerely,
Hilary Ruley

[cid:image001.png@01D21971.CFDD6E80]<http://www.baltimorecity.gov/>
Department of Law

Hilary B. Ruley
Chief Solicitor, Legal Advice & Opinions
Baltimore City Department of Law

100 N. Holliday Street Suite 101
Baltimore, MD 21202
hilary.ruley@baltimorecity.gov<mailto:hilary.ruley@baltimorecity.gov>

Office: (410) 396-3271
Fax: (410) 396-1457

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Mayor's Office of Information Technology
PIA Office
401 E. Fayette St.
Baltimore, MD 21202

July 13, 2018

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Maryland Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

For all accounts managed by your department, please provide me the following information for all emails sent during January, 2017:

1. From address
2. To address
3. bcc addresses
4. cc addresses
5. Time
6. Date

Please note that I am not requesting the contents of each email.

I am more than happy to provide documentation or tips for extracting this information from your mail server if needed. Documentation that I have available include methods using excel, powershell, msaccess, Office 365 eDiscovery tools, and the direct extraction from an exchange database using forensic analysis tools.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Matt Chapman

Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>
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For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
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Somerville, MA 02144-2516

PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is being sent through MuckRock by the above in order to better track, share, and manage public records requests. Also note that improperly addressed (i.e., with the requester's name rather than "MuckRock News" and the department number) requests might be returned as undeliverable.