April 2, 2008

Not-So-Open-Records Update

Here's the latest update in the ongoing saga of the Bredesen administration violating the state's open records laws regarding my request to make a copy of the state's video of blasting at the governor's mansion construction site:

1. Administration spokesperson Lola Potter has denied my request to make a copy of the video - which is a public record - by downloading it from their digital device to my PC over a USB cable, which would cost the state nothing.

2. Instead, she has offered only to let me have a copy, on a DVD, if I pay $200. The state or the construction contractor would make the DVD, so there's no guarantee they wouldn't include digital rights management restrictions that would prevent me from copying, editing or uploading the video to the web.

3. Potter has ignored my request to view the tape - obviously, if they let me view it, there is no legal way they could prevent me from linking their digital device to my PC to download a copy.

4. And now we learn that the state didn't charge WKRN Channel 2 News or the Nashville Scene a penny for it.

Lola Potter, to refresh your memory, is currently being sued for violating the state's open records laws by ignoring for more than nine months multiple open-records requests from the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.