Communications between Mississippi Attorney General And MPAA
| Tracking # |
2103.10 |
| Submitted | Jan. 9, 2015 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Mike Masnick
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to Mississippi's Public Records Act, I hereby request the following documents:
Any emails between the office of Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) or law firm Jenner & Block concerning online search engines, copyright or piracy.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. 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 journalist at the news site Techdirt, and not for commercial usage.
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 7 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Mike Masnick
Techdirt.com
From: MARY JO WOODS
Mr. Masnick,
I am in the process of reviewing your public records request sent on January 9, and noticed that you have not put a date range in the request. Is there a time period for which you would like the requested e-mails? I ask because my understanding is that our archives for which a search can be conducted from one location go back to April, 2013. A search for material before then would have to be conducted by searching individual mailboxes, which would take more time and, therefore, cost more money. We can prepare a cost estimate either way, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to put a limit on the time period if you prefer.
Thank you,
Mary Jo Woods
Special Assistant Attorney General
Mississippi Attorney General's Office
Post Office Box 220
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
(601) 359-3020 (phone)
(601) 359-2003 (fax)
mwood@ago.state.ms.us<mailto:mwood@ago.state.ms.us>
This message is being sent by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Mississippi and is intended only for the use of the individual to which it is addressed and may contain information that is legally privileged or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the original sender or the Office of the Attorney General at (601) 359-3680 immediately by telephone or by return e-mail and delete this message from your computer. Thank you.
From: MARY JO WOODS
Mr. Masnick,
Attached please find a response from the Attorney General's Office to your public records request dated January 9, 2015, and received by the Opinions Division on January 12, 2015. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions regarding this matter.
Thank you,
Mary Jo Woods
Special Assistant Attorney General
Mississippi Attorney General's Office
Post Office Box 220
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
(601) 359-3020 (phone)
(601) 359-2003 (fax)
mwood@ago.state.ms.us<mailto:mwood@ago.state.ms.us>
This message is being sent by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Mississippi and is intended only for the use of the individual to which it is addressed and may contain information that is legally privileged or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the original sender or the Office of the Attorney General at (601) 359-3680 immediately by telephone or by return e-mail and delete this message from your computer. Thank you.
From: Mike Masnick
Dear Ms. Woods,
I can confirm that neither Techdirt nor Muckrock is filing this request on behalf of Google.
As for the date range, April 2013 through December 2014 is fine.
Thank you,
Mike Masnick
Techdirt.com
From: MARY JO WOODS
Mr. Masnick,
Thank you for your prompt response. Our office was closed yesterday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, but our IT department is conducting a search for e-mails responsive to your request. I hope to be able to send you an estimate of costs tomorrow.
Thank you,
Mary Jo
Mary Jo Woods
Special Assistant Attorney General
Mississippi Attorney General's Office
Post Office Box 220
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
(601) 359-3020 (phone)
(601) 359-2003 (fax)
mwood@ago.state.ms.us<mailto:mwood@ago.state.ms.us>
This message is being sent by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Mississippi and is intended only for the use of the individual to which it is addressed and may contain information that is legally privileged or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the original sender or the Office of the Attorney General at (601) 359-3680 immediately by telephone or by return e-mail and delete this message from your computer. Thank you.
From: MARY JO WOODS
Mr. Masnick,
Attached please find a follow-up response with a cost estimate from the Attorney General's Office to your public records request dated January 9, 2015. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions regarding this matter.
Thank you,
Mary Jo Woods
Special Assistant Attorney General
Mississippi Attorney General's Office
Post Office Box 220
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
(601) 359-3020 (phone)
(601) 359-2003 (fax)
mwood@ago.state.ms.us<mailto:mwood@ago.state.ms.us>
This message is being sent by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Mississippi and is intended only for the use of the individual to which it is addressed and may contain information that is legally privileged or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the original sender or the Office of the Attorney General at (601) 359-3680 immediately by telephone or by return e-mail and delete this message from your computer. Thank you.
From: Mike Masnick
Dear Ms. Woods,
It appears that you may have accidentally sent the same attachment as in your initial reply to my records request, rather than the attachment your message suggests is attached.
Thank you,
Mike Masnick
Techdirt.com
From: MARY JO WOODS
Mr. Masnick,
I am terribly sorry. The attached letter should be the correct one with a cost estimate. Please let me know if you have any trouble with the attachment or if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Mary Jo Woods
Special Assistant Attorney General
Mississippi Attorney General's Office
Post Office Box 220
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
(601) 359-3020 (phone)
(601) 359-2003 (fax)
mwood@ago.state.ms.us<mailto:mwood@ago.state.ms.us>
This message is being sent by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Mississippi and is intended only for the use of the individual to which it is addressed and may contain information that is legally privileged or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the original sender or the Office of the Attorney General at (601) 359-3680 immediately by telephone or by return e-mail and delete this message from your computer. Thank you.
From: Mike Masnick
Dear Ms. Woods,
Thank you for your letter. I have a few questions to ask in response.
1. Can you provide more details as to why it should take the amount of time listed in your letter for the search?
2. Can you provide more details as to why it will take 30 hours to review those emails? Having made numerous requests over the years for similar documents from multiple government agencies, I've never seen anything remotely close to that amount of time being necessary before release, so I hope to understand why such a length of time is required in this case, which also might help me to narrow the request.
3. Related to this, are there categories of emails that are clearly releasable without such a level of review, and if so, could those be released up front?
4. Are there certain other exemptions you expect to invoke concerning the emails between your office and the MPAA and the Digital Citizens Alliance? If so, what are they?
5. Are there other ways to narrow the request that would lessen the work level required?
6. While I recognize that Mississippi has no requirement (or even mention) in its public records law for fee waivers for journalists, it is customary for many government agencies to waive such fees when the request is for journalistic purposes. Would your office consider waiving fees for journalistic use?
Thanks for your help,
Mike Masnick
Techdirt.com
From: MARY JO WOODS
Mr. Masnick,
Please see the attached correspondence related to your January 9, 2015, public records request.
Thank you,
Mary Jo Woods
Special Assistant Attorney General
Mississippi Attorney General's Office
Post Office Box 220
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
(601) 359-3020 (phone)
(601) 359-2003 (fax)
mwood@ago.state.ms.us<mailto:mwood@ago.state.ms.us>
This message is being sent by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Mississippi and is intended only for the use of the individual to which it is addressed and may contain information that is legally privileged or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the original sender or the Office of the Attorney General at (601) 359-3680 immediately by telephone or by return e-mail and delete this message from your computer. Thank you.
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