Cost The fees an agency charges for access to electronic data are critical to many requesters. Arbitrary and prohibitively high fees can undercut a requester's ability to invoke freedom of information laws. There are nearly as many approaches to fees as there are states. Fees for computer time, programming time, printouts, supplies, labor, and overhead may be assessed against the requester. However, the National League of Cities resolved in December 1993 that cities and towns should set higher fees for access to electronically stored public information than for providing paper copies, to offset the costs of developing better computer systems.
Many officials attempt to recoup more than costs.
Their agencies try to use electronic records to generate revenue for the government's coffers. In response, members of the public often point out that they have already paid for electronic information systems through their taxes. Reasons for Denial Government agencies still deny requests for electronic information in many cases. Public and private information are mixed together in the database. Software is proprietary or copyrighted and thus cannot be distributed.