January 2017 Email Metadata (Information Technology, Iowa)
| Multi Request | January 2017 Email Metadata |
| Submitted | July 4, 2018 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Matt Chapman
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Iowa Open Records Law, 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 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Matt Chapman
From: Des Moines City Clerk
Dear Mr. Chapman,
This will confirm receipt of your open records request on behalf of MuckRock News, dated July 5, 2018. Your request has been forwarded to me for response.
According to the policy of the City of Des Moines, the first 15 minutes of staff time towards determining and fulfilling a request is without charge; however, staff time spent on a records search beyond 15 minutes is calculated by multiplying the base hourly wage of all of the employees who work on the request times the number of hours spent on the search to the nearest one-half hour increment. A deposit of one-half of the estimated cost of fulfillment must then be submitted to the City of Des Moines prior to further staff time being expended on the search.
Because your request is very vague and will result in an extremely large data pull, I am sending this email to encourage you to narrow your request. If I understand it right, you are requesting ALL emails for ALL accounts for the month of January 2017. In addition, you are requesting removal of the content, which will add more staff time to fulfill the request. Again, I encourage you to narrow the scope of your request, either by timeframe, email accounts, and/or by providing specific search terms, which will lower the estimate of costs to fulfill. However, if you wish to proceed with your request as is, please let me know.
Once I have clarification of the scope of your request, It is anticipated that an estimate will be available within a week and, once available, it will be forwarded to you for payment. The remainder due will be calculated by the actual amount of time expended to fulfill the request and will be due prior to receiving the documents.
I look forward to receiving clarification of the scope of your request.
Thank you,
Lisa Mickey
Open Records Coordinator
Phone: 515-283-4566
Email: lmmickey@dmgov.org<mailto:lmmickey@dmgov.org>
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From: Matt Chapman
Could you clarify what you mean when you suggest that I am requesting the removal of content? This request is NOT for all emails - only metadata, as I have stated at the bottom of the request. As such, the procedure for extracting this information will be wholly different from a request for emails themselves.
I urge that in your cost estimation and process establishment that you attempt to process this request through the direct help of your IT department. They should have the tools necessary to fulfill my request without the requirement of extensive staff time. As I said - I am more than happy to provide documentation to extract this information in ways that require little manual effort. Please also understand that this request has been fulfilled by many other departments throughout the US without the need for exorbitant costs.
Upon clarification of how your departments plan to continue with this request, I will follow up on the request for narrowing. For now, the original scope of this request remains.
From: Information Technology
Dear Mr. Chapman,
The City's Information Technology Department estimates fulfillment of your open records request dated July 5, 2018 may take up to five hours of staff time at a base hourly employee wage of $43.16, resulting in an estimated cost of $215.80. Your approval is required to initiate this step by providing payment of 50% of the total estimated cost of staff time to fulfill the request.
Please confirm your continued interest in pursuing your request by sending a check made payable to the City of Des Moines in the amount of $107.90 to my attention: Lisa Mickey, Open Records Coordinator, Des Moines City Hall, 400 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Once payment is received, a search of any records responsive to your request can begin. The remainder due will be calculated by the actual amount of time required to fulfill the request, along with any production costs, and will be due prior to receiving the documents.
Please be advised that this request will only remain open for 60 days. After 60 days, your request will be closed and you will need to resubmit the request if you decide to proceed at a later date.
Thank you,
Lisa Mickey
Open Records Coordinator
Phone: 515-283-4566
Email: lmmickey@dmgov.org<mailto:lmmickey@dmgov.org>
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From: Matt Chapman
Hi - I would like to continue with this request. Would I be able to provide payment now?
Thanks in advance -
Matt Chapman
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Iowa Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 4, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Iowa Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 4, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Iowa Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 4, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Iowa Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 4, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Iowa Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 4, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Information Technology
Dear Mr. Chapman,
As stated in my email to you below, requests are only kept open for 60 days after an estimate is provided. Accordingly, your request was closed quite some time ago. If you wish to resubmit this request, a new estimate will have to be obtained. Please advise if you wish to resubmit this request.
Sincerely,
Lisa Mickey
Open Records Coordinator
Phone: 515-283-4566
Email: lmmickey@dmgov.org<mailto:lmmickey@dmgov.org>
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From: Matt Chapman
Sorry about that - yes, I would like to resubmit this request. Please consider the range of the request to only include the past 60 days, from the day of processing as to maximize the amount of information received.
Thanks!
From: Information Technology
This will confirm receipt of your open records request on behalf of MuckRock News, dated April 4, 2019. An assessment is underway to determine staff services and costs to fulfill this request.
According to the policy of the City of Des Moines, the first 15 minutes of staff time towards determining and fulfilling a request is without charge; however, staff time spent on a records search beyond 15 minutes is calculated by multiplying the base hourly wage of all of the employees who work on the request times the number of hours spent on the search to the nearest one-half hour increment. Fees are charged for copying, faxing, document scanning, CDs, postage and other costs when applicable. A deposit of one-half of the estimated cost of fulfillment must be submitted to the City of Des Moines prior to further staff time being expended on the search. It is anticipated that an estimate will be available within the next week and, once available, it will be forwarded to you for payment. The remainder due will be calculated by the actual amount of time expended and any copy fees, etc., required to fulfill the request and will be due prior to receiving the documents.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Lisa Mickey
Open Records Coordinator
Phone: 515-283-4566
Email: lmmickey@dmgov.org<mailto:lmmickey@dmgov.org>
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From: Information Technology
Dear Mr. Chapman,
The City estimates fulfillment of your request may take up to four hours of staff time if you wish to receive highlighted metadata from 60 days of email delivered to or sent from valid City employees. However, if you wish to receive metadata from all 2-3 million emails over this period, most of which are being deleted/quarantined due to spam, phishing, or non-existent addresses, the City estimates it may take up to 30 hours of staff time.
My understanding of your request is that you wish to receive highlighted metadata from 60 days of email delivered to or sent from valid City employees. If this is not correct, please let me know and I will provide you with another estimate. Four hours of staff time to fulfill this request equals $212.68. Other costs may apply and will be determined based on the number of records and method of delivery. Your approval is required to initiate this step by providing payment of 50% of the total estimated cost of staff time to fulfill the request.
Please confirm your continued interest in pursuing your request by sending a check made payable to the City of Des Moines in the amount of $106.34 to my attention: Lisa Mickey, Open Records Coordinator, Des Moines City Hall, 400 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Once payment is received, a search of any records responsive to your request can begin. The remainder due will be calculated by the actual amount of time required to fulfill the request, along with any production costs, and will be due prior to receiving the documents.
Please be advised that this request will only remain open for 60 days. After 60 days, your request will be closed and you will need to resubmit the request if you decide to proceed at a later date.
Sincerely,
Lisa Mickey
Open Records Coordinator
Phone: 515-283-4566
Email: lmmickey@dmgov.org<mailto:lmmickey@dmgov.org>
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From: Matt Chapman
Thanks - I'll very likely be sending payment shortly. For now, however, could you clarify what you mean by highlighted metadata? Would that list simply exclude spam email and such?
Matt
From: Information Technology
This would include metadata for messages sent from actual employee mailboxes, and also metadata for messages sent to actual employees, excluding those from outside the network flagged as malware/spam/phish emails or from internal systems/applications sending voluminous quantities of monitoring/alert/notification emails.
Lisa Mickey
Open Records Coordinator
Phone: 515-283-4566
Email: lmmickey@dmgov.org<mailto:lmmickey@dmgov.org>
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From: Matt Chapman
Great. That is acceptable (and preferred). Could we narrow the scope to only 30 days and reduce the cost by half? If so, I will send payment asap.
Matt
From: Information Technology
That is not necessarily so. I will need to obtain a new estimate if you wish to narrow the scope to 30 days.
Lisa Mickey
Open Records Coordinator
Phone: 515-283-4566
Email: lmmickey@dmgov.org<mailto:lmmickey@dmgov.org>
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From: Matt Chapman
Fair enough - yes, I wish to narrow the request to just 30 days. I'll be looking forward to the new estimate.
Thank you -
Matt Chapman
From: Information Technology
Mr. Chapman,
The City estimates fulfillment of your revised request for 30 days of metadata may take up to two hours of staff time, resulting in an estimated cost of $106.34. Other costs may apply and will be determined based on the number of records and method of delivery. Your approval is required to initiate this step by providing payment of 50% of the total estimated cost of staff time to fulfill the request.
Please confirm your continued interest in pursuing your revised request by sending a check made payable to the City of Des Moines in the amount of $53.17 to my attention: Lisa Mickey, Open Records Coordinator, Des Moines City Hall, 400 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Once payment is received, a search of any records responsive to your request can begin. The remainder due will be calculated by the actual amount of time required to fulfill the request, along with any production costs, and will be due prior to receiving the documents.
Please be advised that this request will only remain open for 60 days. After 60 days, your request will be closed and you will need to resubmit the request if you decide to proceed at a later date.
Lisa Mickey
Open Records Coordinator
Phone: 515-283-4566
Email: lmmickey@dmgov.org<mailto:lmmickey@dmgov.org>
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