R.C. 149.433 provides that a record kept by a public office that falls under its definitions of a security record or infrastructure record is not a public record subject to mandatory release.

A “security” record includes:

• Any record that contains information directly used for protecting or maintaining the security of a public office against attack, interference, or sabotage.

This issue’s questions:

1. How long should e-mail records be kept? 
2. Should all e-mails be kept for the same amount of time? 
3. What if we get a request for all e-mails sent and received by an employee?

When someone learns that records containing their personal information are being released by a government agency, often the reaction is something like this: “You can’t give that out–I have a constitutional right to privacy!” While the reaction is natural, the right to privacy found in the U.S. Constitution is actually a limited and poorly defined protection for personal records in the hands of government. As one authority noted, “Perhaps the most striking thing about the right to privacy is that nobody seems to have any very clear idea what it is."

The Public Records Act authorizes the award of statutory damages in a public records mandamus action for a violation of R.C. 149.43(B). In order to qualify for this monetary award, the person requesting the records must have delivered a proper request, in writing, by either hand delivery or certified mail, and the violation must have caused actual “lost use” of the requested records. If statutory damages are awarded, the court may reduce or eliminate the award under certain circumstances.