Court Opinion

ID: 9788290
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 00:37:15.078135+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:07.385861
License: Public Domain

NORRIS, Judge,
concurring in part, dissenting in part.
¶ 45 Although I join in the majority’s resolution of Lake’s public record requests concerning the Soha police reports, the Campbell e-mails, and the Jones shooting investigation records, I part company with its conclusion the metadata requested by Lake is not a public record. Focusing solely on the metadata, the majority reasons it is not a public record because it does not fit within any of the traditional public record formulations recognized by Arizona courts. See supra ¶ 12. Whether the metadata by itself fits within these formulations is not *486the question we should be asking; the question before us is whether the electronic version of Conrad’s notes, which includes the metadata, is a public record. The answer to this question is “yes.”
¶ 46 According to Lake — and not disputed by the City — Conrad created the notes on a city computer with “a Microsoft product.” The information saved within this Microsoft product’s electronic document file consisted of text — the words Conrad chose to reflect his thoughts about Lake — and other information, the metadata. What is important to understand is the metadata is part of the notes electronically created by Conrad; it is integral to the original electronic documents created by Conrad. Although, as the majority notes, Conrad did not independently create the metadata pursuant to any duty, law, or other obligation, and it was a “by-product” of his use of a computer, when he used a computer to document his dealings with Lake, the metadata became part of his notes just as did his words.22
¶ 47 A paper printout of an electronic document is not always the same as the electronic document. Metadata is part of an electronic document, but it generally cannot be viewed in a paper printout. See The Sedona Conference, The Sedona Guidelines: Best Practice Guidelines & Commentary for Managing Information & Records in the Electronic Age, at 80, supra ¶ 8. Thus, when an electronic document is printed on paper, part of the document, the metadata, is omitted. See id.; Philip J. Favro, A New Frontier in Electronic Discovery: Preserving and Obtaining Metadata, 13 B.U. J. Sci. & Tech. L. 1, 4 (2007). Here, the City has never argued, nor could it, that Conrad’s notes are not a public record. But, by producing only a paper printout, the City kept from public inspection the full content of his notes which are undisputedly public records. The meta-data information omitted is as valuable as the text itself because this information can, as the majority correctly notes, “identify and certify the scope, authenticity, and integrity of active or archival electronic information or records.” See supra ¶ 8. And, that is precisely why Lake wanted to see it. See supra 110.
¶ 48 In requesting the “specific file information contained inside the file” of Conrad’s notes, Lake was asking to look at Conrad’s notes in their electronic form.23 Under our public records statute, barring issues of confidentiality and public safety — issues not presented here, a person asking to inspect a public record is entitled to inspect the real record. If we were dealing with a public record that began its “life” on paper, a person asking to see it would be entitled to see it — all of it. A person asking to see an electronic version of a public record should be treated no differently.24
¶ 49 In Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President, 1 F.3d 1274, 1279, 1285 (D.C.Cir.1993), the court recognized paper printouts of electronic documents are not necessarily the same document. One issue before the court was whether various federal agencies were complying with their statutory obligations to preserve government records when they maintained only paper printouts of electronic communications, e-mails to be precise, instead of the electronic communications. Id. at 1277. Without using the term “metadata” the court explained the printouts *487failed to include embedded information found only in the electronic communications. Id. at 1280. The court then stated:
Our refusal to agree with the government that electronic records are merely “extra copies” of the paper versions amounts to far more than judicial nitpicking. Without the missing information, the paper printouts — akin to traditional memoranda with the “to” and “from” cut off and even the “received” stamp pruned away — are dismembered documents indeed. Texts alone may be of quite limited utility to researchers and investigators studying the formulation and dissemination of significant policy initiatives at the highest reaches of our government---- [TJhe practice of retaining only the amputated paper print-outs is flatly inconsistent with Congress’ evident eoncei-n with preserving a complete record of government activity for historical and other uses.
Id. at 1285 (footnotes omitted).
¶ 50 What the court said in Armstrong is true here.
¶ 51 I agree with the majority that not every record created by a state agency or official is necessarily a “public record.” See Ariz.Rev.Stat. (“A.R.S.”) § 39-121.01(B) and (D)(1) (2001 and Supp.2008); Griffis v. Pinal County, 215 Ariz. 1, 2, ¶ 1, 156 P.3d 418, 419 (2007) (personal e-mails in government computer not necessarily public records); Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Cmty. v. Rogers, 168 Ariz. 531, 538, 815 P.2d 900, 907 (1991) (mere possession of document by public agency or official does not make it a public record). Otherwise, “a grocery list written by a government employee while at work, a communication to schedule a family dinner, or a child’s report card stored in a desk drawer in a government employee’s office would be subject to disclosure.” Griffis, 215 Ariz. at 4, ¶ 11, 156 P.3d at 421. Thus, I also agree the “nature and purpose” of a document is crucial in determining whether a document is a public record. Id.
¶ 52 I cannot agree, however, that an electronic version of a “public record,” as requested here, is not also a public record within the meaning of Arizona’s public records law.
¶ 53 The majority’s approach suggests me-tadata is somehow different from the underlying public record, and therefore, metadata has a different “nature and purpose” from the public record. This approach fails to recognize metadata is part of the requested electronic document. Suggesting metadata, standing alone, falls outside of the various formulations of a public record recognized in Arizona, misses the point — metadata does not stand alone. It is not an electronic orphan. It has a home; it exists as part of an electronic document. When, as here, that electronically created document is a public record, then so too is its metadata.
¶ 54 Even assuming the majority’s premise that the metadata is somehow distinct from its underlying electronic public record, the metadata would, under the third Mathews test, see supra ¶ 12, still constitute a public record. As the majority notes, metadata records “the true creation date, the access date, the access dates for each time [the file] was accessed, including who accessed the file as well as print dates, etc.” If an official recorded this information with a pen in a log book at the same time he or she created or altered the underlying public record, this information would certainly qualify as a “written record of transactions of a public officer in his office, which is a convenient and appropriate method of discharging his duties, and is kept by him as such, whether required by ... law or not.” See supra ¶ 12. Simply put, just because the information is recorded electronically, its character as a public record does not change.
¶ 55 The purpose of the public records law is “to open government activity to public scrutiny.” Griffis, 215 Ariz. at 4, ¶ 11, 156 P.3d at 421. Metadata contains information about who authored a document, when it was edited, and who would have accessed it. This information can be crucial to ensuring government transparency. See Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President, 810 F.Supp. 335, 341 n. 12 (D.D.C.1993) (“The question of what government officials knew and when they knew it has been a key question in not only the Iran-Contra investigations, but also in the Watergate matter.”), *488aff'd in part, rev’d in part and remanded by 1 F.3d 1274 (D.C.Cir.1993).
¶ 56 The electronic version of Conrad’s notes, including the metadata, is precisely the type of information our public records law is meant to reveal. This electronic version identifies how and when the government acted. Specifically, it could reveal whether a government official “backdated” a public record. The requested electronic version of Conrad’s notes sheds “light on how the government is conducting its business” and falls within the scope of Arizona’s public records law. See Griffis, 215 Ariz. at 5, ¶ 12, 156 P.3d at 422.
¶ 57 With respect, I therefore dissent from the majority’s conclusion the metadata requested by Lake was not a public record.25 Accordingly, I would direct the superior court to require the City to produce Conrad’s notes in their electronic form with their metadata and to determine whether Lake is entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees because the City failed to produce those records.

. In responding to Lake’s metadata request, the City stated Lake had asked for "a record that is' not maintained by the Police Department and is unavailable.” It also asserted the metadata was not a public record under Mathews v. Pyle, 75 Ariz. 76, 251 P.2d 893 (1952). The City did not and has never disputed, however, Lake’s factual assertion that the metadata he requested was part of Conrad's electronic notes. Nor has the City ever asserted it could not produce an electronic version of Conrad's notes with the metada-ta.

. Lake requested " 'the meta data’ or specific file information contained inside the file where Lt. Robert Conrad documented notes on David Lake # 5055. This information should include the TRUE creation date, the access date, the access dates for each time it was accessed, including who accessed the file as well as print dales etc. A complete file history is requested.”

. An electronic document can be produced with its associated metadata. See Robert G. Schaffer and Anthony Austin, New Arizona E-Discovery Rules, Arizona Attorney, February 2008, at 24, 25 & 26 n. 6 (explaining that metadata can be produced in an electronic version of the printed document as a "native” file).

. As I have noted, Lake asked to inspect Conrad's electronically created notes in their entirety. See supra ¶ 48. Whether, without such specificity, a public agency must produce a copy of the electronic public record instead of a printout of that record as a matter of course in responding to a public records request is not before us.