St. Louis PD Social Media Surveillance

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Missouri Sunshine Law and the Missouri Public Records Law, I hereby request a copy of all records or portions thereof pertaining to, or containing the following:

1. All records regarding the purchase of, acquisition of, installation of, subscription to, payment for, or agreements concerning software designed to access information from social media services;

2. All records that contain any information about the functioning of software designed to access information from social media services that is used or has been used by the St. Louis Police Department;

3. All records regarding correspondence about or with a company that offers software designed to access information from social media services, including but not limited to all correspondence about or with the companies Brightplaent, Geofeedia, Intrado Inc, LifeRaft, Magnet Forensics, Media Sonar, Signal Corporation, and ZeroFOX;

4. All records regarding the policies that govern access to or use of software designed to access information from social media services;

5. All training materials and all records used to instruct members of your agency in the proper use of software designed to access information from social media services or of the information such software is capable of accessing;

6. All records regarding the sharing with entities outside the St. Louis Police Department of information obtained from or obtained by using software designed to access information from social media services;

7. All records referencing social media profiles, comments, posts, messages, or events accessed or retained from social media services through use of software designed o access information from social media services.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public through the public information service MuckRock.com, 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 3 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Aaron Cantú

Hello,

According to Missouri Sunshine Law, "fees for providing access to public records maintained on computer facilities, recording tapes or disks, videotapes or films, pictures, maps, slides, graphics, illustrations or similar audio or visual items or devices...shall not exceed the average hourly rate of pay for staff of the public
governmental body required for making copies and programming."

$74.00, $54.13, and $40.31 seem well above the average hourly rate of pay for public workers in any state, and therefore I believe the charges should be far lower -- but more importantly, there is a strong legal case for the fees you have requested to be waived in their entirety. The law also states that "[d]ocuments may be furnished without charge or at a reduced charge when the public governmental body determines that waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the public governmental body and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester."

As stated in my original request, I do not have any commercial motives for requesting these documents -- I am asking for them in the interest of public disclosure. Once again, I ask that the documents be provided to me free of charge.

Thank you,
Aaron Cantú

Hello,

Can you please tell me:

1. Why the fees will not be waived, considering this request has expressly been made in the public interest, and;

2. What the "actual costs associated with processing" my request are, so I can confirm that they are unrelated to the labor associated with processing the request, and so I can confirm whether or not the fees are lawful.

Thank you,
Aaron Cantú

On Feb. 10, 2016:
According to Missouri Sunshine Law, "fees for providing access to public records maintained on computer facilities, recording tapes or disks, videotapes or films, pictures, maps, slides, graphics, illustrations or similar audio or visual items or devices...shall not exceed the average hourly rate of pay for staff of the public
governmental body required for making copies and programming."

$74.00, $54.13, and $40.31 seem well above the average hourly rate of pay for public workers in any state, and therefore I believe the charges should be far lower -- but more importantly, there is a strong legal case for the fees you have requested to be waived in their entirety. The law also states that "[d]ocuments may be furnished without charge or at a reduced charge when the public governmental body determines that waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the public governmental body and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester."

As stated in my original request, I do not have any commercial motives for requesting these documents -- I am asking for them in the interest of public disclosure. Once again, I ask that the documents be provided to me free of charge.

Thank you,
Aaron Cantú

On Feb. 11, 2016:

Can you please tell me:

1. Why the fees will not be waived, considering this request has expressly been made in the public interest, and;

2. What the "actual costs associated with processing" my request are, so I can confirm that they are unrelated to the labor associated with processing the request, and so I can confirm whether or not the fees are lawful.

Thank you,
Aaron Cantú

Hello, I would still like you to address the following questions:

1. Why the fees will not be waived, considering this request has expressly been made in the public interest, and;

2. What the "actual costs associated with processing" my request are, so I can confirm that they are unrelated to the labor associated with processing the request, and so I can confirm whether or not the fees are lawful?

Thank you.