Well, with all of the coming and goings of the weekend, I forgot to “note” that we had received a response to our latest Right To Know request that read, in part:
As noted in that final response:
When a user enters a URL or IP address for a particular web page, the outbound request passes through the state’s internal network until it reaches the internal firewall. There, the request is routed through DOIT’s web filtering software. That software categorizes web sites based on historical content. Agencies establish filter policies that determine which categories are accessible or blocked. Based on a user’s login information, the software is able to associate a user with his or her IP address and based on the policy assigned to that user, determines whether the requested page is allowed or blocked. If allowed, the software permits the requested web page to be sent from the requested server to the user for viewing. The date, time, and destination of the outgoing request, as well as all IP information sent to the user from the destination web page, are recorded by the web filtering software. The actual content of what was either sent or received is not recorded.
We hereby request, in electronic digital form (in order to minimize time and cost on behalf of DES and DoIT), those records bolded in the above paragraph and to which the State has now admitted to possessing. Further, we also request the file / record layout description of the resulting file (fixed or variable field lengths, data types, et al). As computer consultants, our expertise will allow us to examine the data once received (we have several projects in mind for that data).
This request is asking for those records from January 1, 2005 to the present time (i.e., April 20, 2012), inclusive.
We also request that you name a single point of contact who will be in charge of complying with this RSA 91-A request. If possible, we would request Mr. Peter Demas be that person – we established a very good working communications protocol with Mr. Demas that proved to be beneficial to both parties in our last request.
Well, I think that the tenor of this RTK is going to be a bit “different” than the last one, given the inbound email:
Subject: Your RSA 91-A request dated April 20, 2012
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:47:18 -0400
From: Hamel, Gretchen <Gretchen.Hamel@des.nh.gov>
To: Skip@GraniteGrok.com
CC: Burack, Thomas S <Thomas.Burack@des.nh.gov>, Carlson, Susan <Susan.Carlson@des.nh.gov>, <Stanley.Rogers@doit.nh.gov>
Please see attached.
Gretchen Hamel, Administrator
DES Legal Unit
29 Hazen Drive; P.O. Box 95
Concord, NH 03302-0095
Tel: 603-271-3137 (direct)
Fax: 603-271-8805
Gretchen.Hamel@des.nh.gov
That was it – no introduction, no pleasantries, no chit-chat, no “how d’do”. Just a “here it is – take it”.
You know, I really don’t want to get off on a bad foot here, but is this typical of the stereotypical “Welcome to your caring, friendly public servant bureaucracy”? Yeah, I know I called our previous contact “the RTK Dude” – but he deserved that nice moniker because, well, he was nice to deal with. Given that it seems that Ms. Hamel wishes to go all formal, well, not so much this time around. But it does tell me that we’ve been upgraded – to the Administrator! So, does this mean that we are being taken seriously, or going to be taken care of?
Cold. Ya think this is a harbinger of things to come? YOU would be right! So, what was in that attachment?
April 20,2012
David “Skip” Murphy
9 Gilford Glen Road
Gilford, NH 03249
Re: April 20,2012 Request for Records Pursuant to RSA 91-A
Dear Mr. Murphy,
Your request to Stanley (“Bill”) Rogers, Commissioner and CIO, NH Department of Information Technology, and Thomas S. Burack, Commissioner, NH Department of Environmental services, has been forwarded to me for an initial response.
Please be advised that the agencies need some time to coordinate communications so that a comprehensive response can be provided. We anticipate that we will provide a formal response to your request no later than April 27, 2012, which is 5 business days from our receipt of your request.
Sincerely,
Gretchen Hamel, Administrator
DES Legal Unit
ec:
Thomas S. Burack, Commissioner, DES
Stanley W. Rogers, Commissioner/Chief Information Officer, DOIT
Susan A. Carlson, Chief Operations Officer, DES
Yep, expectations met. You know, our last go round with our RTK Request concerning Mr. Richard de Seve, we pretty much kept our investigation to ourselves. Perhaps this time, it’ll be worth shopping this to some of my New Media buds around the country as they are dealing with similar stuff – and to some other media outlets in the area as well. I did talk about this to a number of folks over the weekend too – there’s growing interest in this type of deal (and look at my posts to figure what kinds of folks).
Well, as before, we’ll see where this goes. Meanwhile, we have more ready to go.
