Emails between Mass State Police and FBI re: Stingrays
| Submitted | June 22, 2015 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Evan Anderson
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
A copy of all emails between the FBI and the Massachusetts State Police, sent between March 1, 2014, and the date this request is processed, containing any of the following words: "Stingray," "dirtbox," "DRTbox," "IMSI catcher," or "cell site simulator".
Please note that the Supervisor of Records for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts recently ordered the Boston Police Department to "demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record" in response to an appeal of a rejection of a records request pertaining to Stingrays. I encourage you to read the ruling in full, available here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2084944-spr15-156.html
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 fees cannot be waived, 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,
Evan Anderson
From: Section, MSP Legal (POL)
Dear Mr. Anderson:
Given the breadth of your request, the Department would be required to search through all Department email accounts (roughly 2000 active accounts) for a period in excess of one year in an effort to identify any information that may be potentially responsive to your request. The Department does not have the capacity to conduct a single global search and will have to search each email account individually. As you can imagine, searching through this amount of email accounts will require significant time and resources to complete. Further, according to the Department’s Office of Information Services, the Department cannot directly access each online email account. Instead it would be necessary for each email account to be downloaded to a separate server before it could be searched. Given the amount of data requested, the Department’s Office of Information Services would be required to download this data in batches as it will require significant storage space. Once the Department has downloaded the email account, it would then be able to search it for terms designated by you as likely to yield the desired records. Accordingly, given the current scope of the request (roughly 2000 email accounts), the Department believes that searching for and producing the responsive records would likely be cost prohibitive. The Department would be happy to work with you to narrow this request in order to obtain the desired public records. Please do not hesitate to contact the Legal Section at 508-820-2311 if you would like to further discuss the potential search parameters.
Massachusetts State Police Legal Section
General Headquarters
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
From: Evan Anderson
Hello,
Thank you for getting back to me. I filed a previous request (available here: https://www.muckrock.com/foi/massachusetts-1/massachusetts-state-police-stingray-documents-14473/) for "A copy of all memos, slides, guidelines, or any other document held by the Massachusetts State Police which contain any of the following words: "Stingray", "IMSI catcher", "cell site simulator", or "dirtbox,"" which was not only determined to not be cost prohibitive, but was fulfilled without a fee. The documents provided to me (available here: https://muckrock.s3.amazonaws.com/foia_files/Evan_Anderson_PRR_Response_121714.pdf) were all emails containing many of the words and phrases specified in this request as well. Therefore, I do not understand how this request could be cost prohibitive while my previous request was fulfilled free of charge, especially given the fact that this request is more narrow than the previous one. I politely request that you reconsider your determination.
Thank you,
Evan
From: Section, MSP Legal (POL)
Mr. Anderson,
In response to your initial request, the Department of State Police queried members of the sections most likely to have had cause to engage in communications and/or have information relative to your request. You were provided with the records that were located. There was no cost to you for these records as the search was limited to those employees most likely, because of their job responsibilities, to be aware of these terms and to have communicated about it or possessed information relative to it. Beyond the materials that you were already provided, your request now requires the Department to broaden its search to all users email accounts in order to locate any responsive material. As such, the Department believes that searching for the responsive records would likely be cost prohibitive. The Department would be happy to work with you to narrow this request in order to obtain the desired records. Please do not hesitate to contact the Legal Section at 508-820-2311 if you would like to further discuss the potential search parameters.
Massachusetts State Police Legal Section
General Headquarters
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
From: Evan Anderson
Hello again,
I would like to revise my request to the following:
A copy of all emails between the FBI and the Massachusetts State Police, sent during the months of February and March, 2014, containing any of the following words: "Stingray," "dirtbox," "DRTbox," "IMSI catcher," or "cell site simulator".
Please let me know if I must further narrow my request.
Thank you,
Evan
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on June 22, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Rooney, Glenn M (POL)
Mr. Anderson,
Attached you will find the Department’s response to your records request. You will only be receiving the attached via email. Your attention to this matter is appreciated. Thank you.
Glenn M. Rooney, Esq.
Staff Counsel
Massachusetts State Police
General Headquarters
470 Worcester Road
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: (508) 820-2391
Fax: (508) 820-2649
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