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The FOI Advocate is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The blog relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Arizona is FIrst State to Make Metadata Available for Public Review

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that "if a public entity maintains a public record in an electronic format, then the electronic version, including any embedded metadata, is subject to disclosure under our public records law."  The Court did not decide when a public entity must keep information electronically, but if it does, then the entity should provide the native files.  

With its ruling, the Arizona Supreme Court is the first state to rule that metadata is available for public review.  

Metadata is hidden data about data that details a document's creation and revisions, showing when and who made such changes.  

Get more information here and here. 
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

New York's Appellate Division, 4th Department (the mid-level appellate court) allowed FOIL access to metadata in Irwin v. OCRRA (February 11, 2010, Docket No. 09-00305) and cites to the Arizona Supreme Court decision: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/ad4/court/Decisions/2010/02-11-10/PDF/1421.pdf.

1:42 PM

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