High Tech Crime Consortium ListServ (Fall River Police Department)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

Copies of emails sent to, from, or through the High Tech Crime Consortium ListServ. The emails may be identified by having one or more of the following:

* A sender with a display name of either "High Tech Crime Consortium Listserv" or "High Tech Crime Consortium"
* A subject containing either "HTCC" or "[HTCC]"
* Sent to or from an email address containing "htcc" or hightechcrimecops.org

You may limit this request to records generated between April 1, 1998 and the date of the processing of this request.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

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,

Emma Best

You need to perform an actual search. They explicitly list your department as being on it. I suspect that, without your awareness, someone there is using it. Otherwise, you've implicated this law enforcement support 501c3 in fraud.

And he has been in that position since April 1, 1998? That was the date range explicitly requested.

Please also note that the request wasn't limited to people assigned to cyber crime, as the subject matter of the ListServ isn't limited to cyber crime.

Based on an improper search consisting of asking one person whose employment doesn't cover the time period requested and is not the only officer who might have received the emails.

Is it a conscious choice to not inform me of my right to appeal?