Last March, you may have read about a case that ON[the]LINE highlighted, where there was a “trial court decision interpreting the definition of a ‘public record’ ordered public officials in the City of San Jose to provide private text messages, voicemails, emails and other electronic communications on personal digital assistant device (‘PDA’) from city officials about city business in response to a claim under the state’s Public Records Act (‘PRA’).” (For more information about that case, read more here.)
There has now been a decision that draws a line on public access to government records. Mike Rosenberg, from the San Jose Mercury News reported that “an appeals court ruled Thursday that government workers in San Jose and beyond can keep their communications private if they send them on a personal device like a cell phone.” For more information in this change of ruling, click on this link to read the entire article.