BE BREITBART: DoIT/ DES Right To Know Request : A conversation with DES Commissioner Tom Burack - Granite Grok

BE BREITBART: DoIT/ DES Right To Know Request : A conversation with DES Commissioner Tom Burack

Well, DES Commissioner Tom Burack called in at noon this past Tuesday to have a conversation with a couple of we Groksters (Susan and me) concerning our Right To Know Requests that we have submitted to both his department and that of the Department of Information Technology.

Sidebar: we received the response to our Second RTK yesterday.  I have not had the chance to review it but will be posting it up later.  At first glance, however, it seems like they have decided that government records, if they exist, are for their eyes only.  If it seems that this first glance is true, we will be taking this up a level.

 Now, that call is not of the greatest audio quality; it seems I have a problem from phone line 1 into the soundboard that introduced a bunch of background noise.  Also, Commissioner Burack was on a speakerphone with one of his assistants which made him sound a bit distant.  I am going to post this audio up now, warts and all, but will continue to try to boost his end of the conversation and reduce the noise.  You can download the MP3 here (30 minutes, 30K) or listen to the conversation (about 30 minutes) using the online player:

Also, I have no intention of doing a complete transcription, but I will be grabbing a few highlights and will post them here:

(0:26) Skip: In accordance with New Hampshire state law, I do need to inform you that this conversation is going to be recorded
(1:10) Commissioner Burack: wishes to know where we live in NH
(1:34) Commissioner Burack: Thanked us for bringing Richard de Seve, his employee, to his attention
(2:29) Skip brings up oversight of government by the citizenry
(2:51) Purpose was not to talk about the RTKs directly, as the second two RTKs are addressed to DoIT and not DES
(3:11) Skip points out, however, that it is DES’s Gretchen Hamel (Administrator!) that is still handling the communications.
(4:15) Skip brings up an additional Letter to DoIT
(4:42) Skip asks: what is so hard about obtaining these Government records
(5:10) Skip informs Commissioner Burack about the new RTK – filtering requests
(6:06) Skip corrects Commissioner Burack on this new RTK – DES does have a part in it.

(6:44) Skip lets Commissioner Burack know that we appreciated working with Pete Demas
(6:58) Commissioner Burack asks: what are you trying to accomplish?
(8:03) Skip answers with: live up to your own policies, which, thus far, you have not.  Brings up the Theft of Services RSA.  GAIA is much worse.  Your Computer Usage policy has been ignored (along with DoIT’s).  Points out that both you and Commissioner Rogers are responsible for this lack of enforcement.
(10:12) Commissioner Burack: anything else?
(10:28) Skip:”I think it can be summarized in three little words: Make It Stop”
(10:33 – 10:40) silence
(10:40) Skip: You have the power, DoIt has the tools, you need the political and administrative willpower to make it happen
(10:48 – 11:00) silence
(11:00) Commissioner Burack: That’s  very helpful.

(11:49) Commissioner Burack: “And I believe State Government as a whole, takes these kinds of matters very very seriously, whenever we become aware of situations where people are not complying with our policies, we do take approprite personnel actions…”
(13:05) Skip starts to explain that DoIT policy is to monitor the network and inform the other agencies of abuse by their employees – but actively is NOT doing so.  Thus, you have no idea the abuse is going on.
(14:13) Skip: “They won’t tell you – you aren’t asking…so what is the remedy for that situation?”
(14:27)  Commissioner Burack: “what I’m going to have to do is to take this question to others and get back to you on it.” – he’s not sure of the DoIT policy.
(14:45.5) Skip: “As soon as this conversation is over, I will forward both your stated policy as well as DoIT policies…”
(15:23) Skip: Commissioner, what do you expecting us at GraniteGrok to do?
(15:29)  Commissioner Burack: “I have no particular expectations…we like to work constructively with people when issues are brought to our attention.”
(16:46) Skip offers the opportunity for  Commissioner Burack to submit a guest post to GraniteGrok so our readers would get his side of the story.
(17:54) Susan: “Only that I am curious as to why it took a third party to uncover this practice…if no one is monitoring it, its like voter fraud; how do you know that its going on?
(18:26)  Commissioner Burack: Trying to find the root cause…to make sure, going forward, they prevent it from happening in the first place.
(19:19) Skip: again, what can we do for you?
(19:36)  Commissioner Burack: Contact us if you think there is a problem – call direct when you have concerns.  “Customer service is critically important to us.  It is part of our ethos here in the department.”
(22:36) Skip: based on your comment of “Customer Service” we are asking 1) that Pete Demas become our contact person again because of his high level of customer service rendered, and 2) if you would ask DoIT to release your department’s Internet website Summarization records?
(26:31)  Commissioner Burack: Inquires as to what I do for a living, based on my answer that while I am the co-founder of GraniteGrok, I have gathered a number of tech-savvy writers for the ‘Grok.
(26:44) Skip: Computer consultant, along with other Groksters
(27:42)  Commissioner Burack: Thanks for taking the time for this call – we will take your requests under consideration.
(27:59) Skip: BTW,this call is not to put the planned face-to-face meeting with you and Comissioner Rogers (of DoIT) in abeyance, yes?
(27:38) Commissioner Burack: he will confer with Commissioner Rogers about it and get back to you.

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