Last week, news organizations announced with dismay that British Columbia may impose an application fee of $25 for Freedom of Information requests filed in that province. Currently, in British Columbia, applicants can file an FOI request for free and pay no search charges unless the request is for public records (rather than personal information) andContinue reading “Why Charge an Application Fee for Each FOI Request?”
Tag Archives: Costs
Why do requestors ask for electronic versions of records?
In this article, FIPPA and MFIPPA refer to Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, respectively. There are a number of reasons that a requestor might ask an institution to disclose records digitally rather than in hard copy: The requestor is hoping toContinue reading “Why do requestors ask for electronic versions of records?”
FOI In The News (April 23, 2019)
CBC News: Overburdened public bodies seek fees, restrictions on freedom of information requests Ian Froese, April 11, 2019 In Manitoba, there is currently no charge to apply for access to records, and requestors are allotted two free hours for search and preparation time. As part of a review of Manitoba’s Freedom of Information and ProtectionContinue reading “FOI In The News (April 23, 2019)”
Do institutions have to disclose electronic versions of records?
Can requestors specify whatever format they want? How should an institution respond to a request that specifies the format in which the requestor would like to receive the records? For example, an institution might receive a request for hundreds of pages of documents which are stored by the institution only in hard copy, but theContinue reading “Do institutions have to disclose electronic versions of records?”
“I thought we deleted that!” Metadata and Hidden Data
What are Metadata and Hidden Data? Metadata Metadata refers to information “about” a record. For a Microsoft Word document, this could include information such as the author of the document, the date and time the document was created, the time spent editing the document, its length, its description, comments about the document, etc. For aContinue reading ““I thought we deleted that!” Metadata and Hidden Data”
FOI Assist 