Text and Chat Messages - Immediate Disclosure Request - San Francisco Universal Search (DT)
It is a clone of this request.
| Tracking # |
21-811 |
| Submitted | Dec. 5, 2020 |
| Est. Completion | March 4, 2021 |
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Communications
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
To San Francisco Department Of Technology and its Department Head or Elected Official:
** DO NOT DESTROY ANY RESPONSIVE RECORDS. YOU MUST PRESERVE AND ORDER YOUR EMPLOYEES TO PRESERVE RECORDS DURING THE PENDENCY OF ALL APPEALS. WE WILL APPEAL ALL REDACTIONS OR WITHHOLDINGS. ** Immediate Disclosure Request.
Every department head/elected official must preserve and maintain all correspondence in a professional and businesslike manner (SFAC 67.29-7(a)) and also separately must comply with retention policies (SFAC 67.29-1). Note that if your retention policies do not retain text messages, I will argue before the SOTF and court that this is a failure to maintain **all correspondence** in a professional and businesslike manner.
Relevant precedent: SOTF 19098 - Anonymous v SFPD. Unanimous finding of violation for unlawfully withholding text message metadata (including the to/from/etc. - note SFPD had provided the dates and times, and you must as well), and also for unlawfully printing and scanning electronic records which does not constitute a "copy" of an electronic record.
See also prior rulings in my favor in SOTF 19044, 19047, 19091, 19098, 19103, and 19108 which ruled against the City for email, text messages, past and future calendar entries, meeting details, electronic metadata, and attachments.
The Mayor's Office appears to have destroyed their copies of certain text messages. I'd be happy to get them from her, if she preserved every record. Alas she did not, therefore we must now conduct a universal search of the City. You cannot refer me to another department unless you search and determine that you have no copies in your department. If this is causing more work for you, ask your Mayor to stop destroying her public records.
Note there are many anonymous requesters using MuckRock - I am just one of them. If you previously produced some subset of these records to a MuckRock email address, please reference that prior response so you do not duplicate work. If I am unable to get the prior MuckRock response because it is someone else's and they have marked it private, you will however need to provide me a copy here as well.
1. This is an immediate disclosure request for text, chat, or instant messages between the Department Head/Elected Official and either Sean Elsbernd, Andrea Bruss, London Breed, Harlan Kelly, Jr., Naomi Kelly, Hank Heckel, or Walter Wong, including all group messages, and all messages in threads, in any form and any app (including, but not limited to, SMS, MMS, text, iMessage, Teams, Discord, WeChat, QQ, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, Hangouts, Meet, Slack, Skype, Viber, Snapchat, Line, Kik, FaceTime, Wickr Me, Chatroulette, Threema, KakaoTalk, Duo, GroupMe, Wire, Voxer, Allo, Tango, Bumble, Grindr, Tinder, Olive, Taimi, but NOT including email), on any government accounts/devices or on personal accounts or devices regarding the conduct of public business, including all participant names, message text, images, attachments, dates, and times, including any in trash or deleted folders or similar (see Good Government Guide - if the records have not been permanently deleted as of the time you receive this request, you must retrieve them from the so-called trash folders and provide them). Provide rolling responses. Provide exact copies including all metadata. There is no limitation by subject or date. If the total pages to produce numbers over 500, inform me of the rough dates, employees involved, and subject matter, and I may be willing to narrow the initial production, AS LONG AS YOU PRESERVE ALL THE RECORDS.
2. This is a regular records request for text, chat, or instant messages between any non-department head/elected official (i.e. the other dept employees) and either Sean Elsbernd, Andrea Bruss, London Breed, Harlan Kelly, Jr., Naomi Kelly, Hank Heckel, or Walter Wong, including all group messages, and all messages in threads, in any form and any app (including, but not limited to, SMS, MMS, text, iMessage, Teams, Discord, WeChat, QQ, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, Hangouts, Meet, Slack, Skype, Viber, Snapchat, Line, Kik, FaceTime, Wickr Me, Chatroulette, Threema, KakaoTalk, Duo, GroupMe, Wire, Voxer, Allo, Tango, Bumble, Grindr, Tinder, Olive, Taimi, but NOT including email), on any government accounts/devices or on personal accounts or devices regarding the conduct of public business, including all participant names, message text, images, attachments, dates, and times, including any in trash or deleted folders or similar (see Good Government Guide - if the records have not been permanently deleted as of the time you receive this request, you must retrieve them from the so-called trash folders and provide them). Provide rolling responses. Provide exact copies including all metadata. There is no limitation by subject or date. If the total pages to produce numbers over 500, inform me of the rough dates, employees involved, and subject matter, and I may be willing to narrow the initial production, AS LONG AS YOU PRESERVE ALL THE RECORDS.
Please provide only those copies of records available without any fees. If you determine certain records would require fees, please instead provide the required notice of which of those records are available and non-exempt for inspection in-person if we so choose.
Your non-exhaustive obligations:
- All withholding of any information must be justified in writing by specific statutory authority (SFAC 67.27).
- Every redaction must be keyed by footnote or by other clear reference to the specific justification for that redaction, and only the minimal exempt portion of any record may be withheld (SFAC 67.26).
- You must respond to emailed requests (SFAC 67.21(b)).
- You must notify us of whether or not responsive records exist and/or were withheld for each above request (Gov Code 6253(c), 6255(b)).
- You must state the name and title of each person responsible for withholding any information (Gov Code 6253(d)).
- Do not impose any end-user restrictions upon me (Santa Clara Co. vs Superior Ct, 170 Cal.App 4th 1301); so if you use a third-party website to publish records, please make them completely public without any login or sign-in.
Your agency must do all of the above things in your response, and you cannot wait until we file complaints.
****** We have no duty to, and we will not again, remind the City of its obligations. Instead, we will file complaints for every Sunshine Ordinance or CPRA violation. We will continue to file complaints until the City's procedures are modified to fully comply with the Sunshine Ordinance and CPRA, without caveat or exception. ******
I look forward to your lawful response.
NOTE: THE EMAIL ADDRESS SENDING THIS REQUEST IS A PUBLICLY-VIEWABLE MAILBOX. Please be certain you have properly redacted all of your responses. Once you send them to us, there is no going back. All of your responses (including all responsive records) may be instantly and automatically available to the public online via the MuckRock.com FOIA service used to issue this request (though the requester is an anonymous user, not a representative of MuckRock). Nothing herein is legal, IT, or professional advice of any kind. The author disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to all warranties of merchantability or fitness. In no event shall the author be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or any other damages whatsoever. The digital signature, if any, in this email is not an indication of a binding agreement or offer; it merely authenticates the sender. Please do not include any confidential information, as I intend that these communications with the City all be disclosable public records.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
City and County of San Francisco
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Hi there
Your first City and County of San Francisco record request (request number #20-4786) has been submitted.
It is currently unpublished and is not available for the general public to view.
As the requester, you can always see the status of your
request by signing into the City and County of San Francisco Public Records
portal here.
If you haven't already activated your account,
click here to get started.
Once your account is activated, your request will be visible at the following link:
Request #20-4786.
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<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at City and County of San Francisco.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://www.nextrequest.com/support'>help page</a>
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
City and County of San Francisco
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Hi there
Record request #20-4786 has been closed. The closure reason supplied was:
Dear Anonymous,
We have conducted a diligent search for records responsive to your and have found none for the following:
* request for text, chat, or instant messages between the Department Head/Elected Official and either Sean Elsbernd, Andrea Bruss, London Breed, Harlan Kelly, Jr., Naomi Kelly, Hank Heckel, or Walter Wong, including all group messages, and all messages in threads, in any form and any app (including, but not limited to, SMS, MMS, text, iMessage, Teams, Discord, WeChat, QQ, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, Hangouts, Meet, Slack, Skype, Viber, Snapchat, Line, Kik, FaceTime, Wickr Me, Chatroulette, Threema, KakaoTalk, Duo, GroupMe, Wire, Voxer, Allo, Tango, Bumble, Grindr, Tinder, Olive, Taimi.
* records request for text, chat, or instant messages between any non-department head/elected official (i.e. the other dept employees) and either Sean Elsbernd, Andrea Bruss, London Breed, Harlan Kelly, Jr., Naomi Kelly, Hank Heckel, or Walter Wong, including all group messages, and all messages in threads, in any form and any app (including, but not limited to, SMS, MMS, text, iMessage, Teams, Discord, WeChat, QQ, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, Hangouts, Meet, Slack, Skype, Viber, Snapchat, Line, Kik, FaceTime, Wickr Me, Chatroulette, Threema, KakaoTalk, Duo, GroupMe, Wire, Voxer, Allo, Tango, Bumble, Grindr, Tinder, Olive, Taimi.
Please note that the Public Records Act requires an agency to make available to any person a copy of an “identifiable record or records” in its possession (Please see California Government Code § 6253(b).) The City’s obligation under the Sunshine Ordinance, like the Public Records Act, is to produce public records in its custody. (See San Francisco Administration Code § 67.20(b).) There is no requirement that a department or officer construct a document to meet the specifications of the request.
This concludes your public records request.
Sincerely,
DT Custodian of Records
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<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at City and County of San Francisco.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://www.nextrequest.com/support'>help page</a>
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
Dear Other Department Heads:
This is a distinct immediate disclosure request for each of the following NextRequest records:
1. The "General Report" at https://nextrequest.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028492052-The-General-Report with all information as a PDF, CSV, or XLXS (it is unclear what formats are available for this report) for two distinct date ranges below. The number of hours spent is a key data point and is in fact requested. Please note that public employee work hours or pay (which is sometimes included in this report ) are not exempt from disclosure. The report is not limited to your department - if your department has admin access to NextRequest, all records in NextRequest are demanded.
(a) beginning of time to March 22, 2020
(b) March 23, 2020 to present
2. The "Users Report" in XLXS format (which is "available" to you https://nextrequest.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/235919568-Download-a-Users-Report-admins-only- ) . The number of hours spent is a key data point and is in fact requested. Please note that public employee work hours or pay (which is sometimes included in this report ) are not exempt from disclosure. The report is not limited to your department - if your department has admin access to NextRequest, all records in NextRequest are demanded.
3. The "Request Report" in XLXS format (which is "available" to you https://nextrequest.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/235979347-Downloading-a-Requests-Report ). ALL available columns/fields in the report are requested - see the prior link on how to provide ALL available fields. The report is not limited to your department - if your department has admin access to NextRequest, all records in NextRequest are demanded.
NOTE: See most recent ruling SOTF 20010 Monette-Shaw vs City Attorney ( https://sfgov.org/sunshine/sites/default/files/sotf_020321_minutes.pdf#page=4 ): The SOTF considered whether the Complainant's demand for an Excel spreadsheet constructed a certain way from the City Attorney's claims database (which was not in Excel) constituted the construction of a new record not subject to the requirements of CPRA/Sunshine Ordinance (as argued by the City Attorney). The SOTF ruled the City Attorney violated 67.25 nevertheless. Compare Sander v State Bar of California and SF Admin Code 67.21(L).
NOTE: 1. If you are a public official: I intend that these communications all be disclosable public records, and I will not hold in confidence any of your messages, notwithstanding any notices to the contrary. 2. Nothing herein is legal, IT, or professional advice of any kind. The author disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to all warranties of merchantability or fitness. 3. In no event shall the author be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or any other damages whatsoever. 4. The digital signature (signature.asc attachment), if any, in this email is not an indication of a binding agreement or offer; it merely authenticates the sender.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
City and County of San Francisco
************************************************************************
Hi there
Your record request #21-811 has been submitted.
It is currently under review and is not available for the general public to view.
As the requester, you can always see the status of your request
by signing in to the City and County of San Francisco Public Records Request
site here.
If you haven't already signed in to your account, you may need
to activate your account to sign in.
************************************************************************
<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at City and County of San Francisco.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://www.nextrequest.com/support'>help page</a>
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
Please open request #21-811 fully visible without any login.
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
City and County of San Francisco
************************************************************************
Hi there
A message was sent to you regarding record request #21-811:
Dear Anonymous,
We are in receipt of your public records request, on Monday, February 22, 2021, with time stamp of 8:56 AM. You have requested for the following:
1. The "General Report"
(a) beginning of time to March 22, 2020
(b) March 23, 2020 to present
2. The "Users Report" in XLXS format
3. The "Request Report" in XLXS format
Our department will endeavor to identify and compile document/s responsive to your request. The Sunshine Ordinance requires departments to respond within 10 calendar days from receipt of any records requests. We will contact you as soon as the responsive documents are ready for you to view and will do so on or before March 4, 2021, as permitted by San Francisco Administrative Code § 67.21(b) and California Government Code § (c).
Also, please note that the Public Records Act requires an agency to make available to any person a copy of an “identifiable record or records” in its possession (Please see California Government Code § 6253(b).) The City’s obligation under the Sunshine Ordinance, like the Public Records Act, is to produce public records in its custody. (See San Francisco Administration Code § 67.20(b).) There is no requirement that a department or officer construct a document to meet the specifications of the request.
Sincerely,
DT Public Records Analyst
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<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at City and County of San Francisco.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://www.nextrequest.com/support'>help page</a>
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
City and County of San Francisco
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Hi there
Record request #21-811 has been closed. The closure reason supplied was:
Dear Anonymous,
We have conducted a diligent search and have located responsive records, which will be released and sent to you in the format you requested. You have requested for the following:
*
* The "General Report" (a) Beginning of time to March 22, 2020 (b) March 23, 2020 to present
* The "Users Report" in XLXS format
* The "Request Report" in XLXS format
Please note that the “Request Text” field has not been provided on the “Request Report”. This field contains private details that are large and time consuming to redact and cannot be released in the format you requested. If you advise us that this data is essential to the request, we can continue to work on it.
Please be advised that each City department receives, searches, and responds to public records requests on behalf of its own department, not Citywide. Accordingly, we recommend that you contact other departments for additional records responsive to your request.
This concludes your public records request.
We thank you for your patience.
Stay safe. Stay healthy.
Sincerely,
DT Public Records Analyst
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<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at City and County of San Francisco.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://www.nextrequest.com/support'>help page</a>
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
City and County of San Francisco
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Hi there
Documents have been released to you for record request #21-811:
* DT Users Report 3-9-2021.xlsx
* General report Inception Thru March 22, 2020 .pdf
* General report March 23, 2020 thru Present.pdf
* DT Request Report.xlsx
Document links are valid for one month.
After April 10, you will need to sign in to view the document(s).
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<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at City and County of San Francisco.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://www.nextrequest.com/support'>help page</a>
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
Please publish request 21-811 publicly so I don't have to login.
Thanks.
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
City and County of San Francisco
************************************************************************
Hi there
Record request #21-811 has been published and is now available for public view.
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<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at City and County of San Francisco.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://www.nextrequest.com/support'>help page</a>
From:
Will do.
Thanks.
?Best Regards,
Arlene Licudine
Department of Technology
1 South Van Ness 2nd floor
628-652-5090
From: twitter.com/journo_anon Public Records Requester
Thanks, but the records themselves are still not visible.
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
City and County of San Francisco
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Hi there
Documents have been released for record request #21-811 along with the following message:
Per your request, responsive records are now published publicly. For your convenience herein is the link https://sanfrancisco.nextrequest.com/requests/21-811#
* DT Users Report 3-9-2021.xlsx
* General report Inception Thru March 22, 2020 .pdf
* General report March 23, 2020 thru Present.pdf
* DT Request Report.xlsx
Document links are valid for one month.
After April 10, you will need to sign in to view the document(s).
************************************************************************
<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at City and County of San Francisco.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://www.nextrequest.com/support'>help page</a>
From:
Apologies... here's the link https://sanfrancisco.nextrequest.com/requests/21-811.
Thank you.
?Best Regards,
Arlene Licudine
Department of Technology
1 South Van Ness 2nd floor
628-652-5090
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
San Francisco Sandbox
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Hi there
Your first San Francisco Sandbox record request (request number #21-95) has been submitted.
It is currently unpublished and is not available for the general public to view.
As the requester, you can always see the status of your
request by signing into the San Francisco Sandbox Public Records
portal here.
If you haven't already activated your account,
click here to get started.
Once your account is activated, your request will be visible at the following link:
Request #21-95.
************************************************************************
<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at San Francisco Sandbox.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://help.nextrequest.com/knowledge/requester-resources'>help page</a>
From: San Francisco Department Of Technology
San Francisco Sandbox
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Hi there
Record request #21-95 has been closed. The closure reason supplied was:
Apologies this is test only...
This is not a public records request.
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<em>Questions about your request?</em> Reply to this email or sign in to contact staff at San Francisco Sandbox.<br></br><em>Technical support:</em> See our <a href='https://help.nextrequest.com/knowledge/requester-resources'>help page</a>
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