Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
It regulates and sets requirements for the disclosure of certain public records.“Public body” means a state officer, employee, agency, department, division, bureau, board, commission, council, authority, or other body in the executive branch of state government but does not include the governor or lieutenant governor, the executive office of the governor or lieutenant governor, or employees thereof.
Enforcement as to Record Denial
A person may appeal a final decision to deny a request to the head of the public body. The head of the public body has 10 business days to respond to the appeal. It can go to court. That can take up to 180 days.
Penalties for violation of the Act
If the trial court finds that the public body has arbitrarily and capriciously violated the FOIA by refusal or delay in disclosing or providing copies of a public record, they will have to compensatory the damages and could be fined up to 1000.00.
I found a great example of FOIA about social media.The article I found is Social media surveillance I feel the internet and social media will be the new area of laws and FOIA will have a lot of work to do once we set internet laws. I feel we need internet laws.
Online Reporting, Research & Writing 