Mailman Archives
| Tracking # |
PR-2020-00691 |
| Submitted | Oct. 1, 2020 |
| Est. Completion | Dec. 30, 2047 |
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Communications
From: Nikky Southerland
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Washington Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
An archive of all Mailman messages being stored by UW-IT from the beginning of time until 2020-10-01 (or whenever you process this request, whichever is later). To whit, this will include messages mentioned in the following email sent from UW-IT:
"In order to better manage the volume of archived messages, UW Information Technology (UW-IT) will delete Mailman archived messages older than one year, effective December 1, 2020."
I realize that this is likely a large archive that may span multiple systems. I'm flexible in the format that it arrives in and happy to discuss various options for conveying the data.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, 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 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Nikky Southerland
From: University of Washington
October 5, 2020
Ms. Nikki Southerland
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 103095
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144
Re: Public Records Request PR-2020-00691
Dear Ms. Southerland:
The Office of Public Records and Open Public Meetings is seeking a partial clarification regarding your public records request received by this office on October 2, 2020. This clarification is sought as allowed by RCW 42.56.520 of the Public Records Act of Washington State; which states, in part:
An agency may ask the requestor to clarify what information the requestor is seeking. If the requestor fails to respond to an agency request to clarify the request, the agency must respond to those portions of the request that are clear.
We seek clarification about: To whit, this will include messages mentioned in the following email sent from UW‐IT: "In order to better manage the volume of archived messages, UW Information Technology (UW‐IT) will delete Mailman archived messages older than one year, effective December 1, 2020."
Please contact this office by October 19, 2020 to clarify the portion of your request specified above. If we do not hear from you by that date, we will assume you are only interested in obtaining the portion(s) of your request that are clear and will fulfill your request accordingly.
Sincerely,
Susan Adams
Compliance Analyst
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Office of Public Records and Open Public Meetings
Mail: Roosevelt Commons-Box 354997, Seattle, WA 98195
Street: 4311 11th Ave NE, #360
From: Nikky Southerland
Hello Susan-
Thanks for the request for clarification.
UW Information Technology maintains a number of mailman servers that act as email listservs across the university community. There are many mailman servers, but for example, one of them is located at:
http://mailman13.u.washington.edu
Each mailman server hosts many hundreds of email lists, and part of that hosting it stores message history for each individual list.
I'm requesting the complete archives of all mailman lists, which includes all messages sent to every mailman list and stored by UW-IT.
If this helps, UW-IT has a FAQ located at the following page:
https://itconnect.uw.edu/connect/email/resources/mailman/faqabout-mailman/#archive
It notes that "In early August 2020, owners of lists with archives will receive a message that includes links to download your archives."
If there is an MBOX archive for every list that has an archive, access to these files would be acceptable way of respond to this request.
Hopefully this clears things up a bit. Let me know if you have any questions!
-
Nikky
From: University of Washington
October 9, 2020
Ms. Nikki Southerland
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 103095
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144
Re: Public Records Request PR-2020-00691
Dear Ms. Southerland:
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your public records request on October 2, 2020. We estimate we will respond to your request by December 30, 2022. As allowed by RCW 42.56.520, if additional time is needed to locate, review or assemble documents or to notify third parties affected by your request, we will contact you.
If you need to contact us about your request, please have the request number noted above available. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact this office.
Sincerely,
Susan Adams
Compliance Analyst
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Office of Public Records and Open Public Meetings
Mail: Roosevelt Commons-Box 354997, Seattle, WA 98195
Street: 4311 11th Ave NE, #360
From: Nikky Southerland
Hi Susan-
Just to clarify, you're saying that this request will be completed by December 30, 2022? These files are scheduled to be deleted on December 1, 2020 by UW-IT.
As noted in RCW 42.56.100 (in part):
"If a public record request is made at a time when such record exists but is scheduled for destruction in the near future, the agency, the office of the secretary of the senate, or the office of the chief clerk of the house of representatives shall retain possession of the record, and may not destroy or erase the record until the request is resolved."
I expect that these files will not be removed from UW's possession until this requst is fufilled.
From: Nikky Southerland
Hello-
These files are scheduled to be deleted tomorrow, December 1, 2020. Please confirm that these files will be preserved until this request is resolved as outlined in RCW 42.56.100.
From: University of Washington
December 10, 2020
Ms. Nikki Southerland
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 103095
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144
Re: Public Records Request PR-2020-00691
Dear Ms. Southerland:
I am writing to you with an update on the status of your public records request seeking all archived Mailman messages stored by UW-IT to October, 1, 2020.
We will make every effort to respond to your request in as timely a manner possible given the office's total workload and the resources allocated to our office. Last year, we received just under 1,000 public records requests. This year we project a similar volume of requests; as of December 1, 2020 our office had a minimum of 1,432,280 pages requiring review, analysis, and possible redaction prior to release.
Our office must balance the competing needs of many requestors. Some request small numbers of records that are easy to review and analyze. Others request large numbers of records or records that are complex and require a longer time to review. In the interest of fairness, we make every effort to respond to requests in the order received.
As to your request, we have isolated and preserved 550GB of data from approximately 6,300 Mailman listervs and, by industry standards, this equates to roughly 55-56 million pages of records. Based on our current workload we estimate this request will take 25-30 years to complete.
In order to facilitate a shorter period of time to complete your request, the Office of Public Records and Open Public Meetings is seeking clarification regarding your public records request. This clarification is sought as allowed by RCW 42.56.520 of the Public Records Act of Washington State; which states, in part:
[A]n agency may ask the requestor to clarify what information the requestor is seeking. If the requestor fails to clarify the request, the agency need not respond to it.
Please provide any keywords, specific topics or themes, or specific listservs you wish to use to clarify your request by December 24, 2020.
If we do not hear from you by that date, we will assume you do not wish to provide any further clarification and we will fulfill your request accordingly.
Sincerely,
Susan Adams
Compliance Analyst
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Office of Public Records and Open Public Meetings
Mail: Roosevelt Commons-Box 354997, Seattle, WA 98195
Street: 4311 11th Ave NE, #360
From: Nikky Southerland
Hello-
Thank you for your response on 2020/12/10. Although I suspect this will require you to create a new document, it may help refocus this if I could get a document that provides the following:
* mailman list email address
* mailman list title
* date of the oldest message present in this list archive (if possible)
* size of archive (either in terms of disk usage or messages; preferably both if possible)
If the creation of this document is possible, it may help narrow the size of this request.
From: Nikky Southerland
Hello-
What is the status of my clarifying request sent on 2021-01-27?
From: University of Washington
A fix is required to perfect the request.
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