Why a Centre Region township changed its open records policy, and why others may follow
If you intend on submitting a Right-to-Know Law request in College Township, you had better put your name on it, or it can now be denied.
On Thursday, College Township’s open records policy was amended to provide the township with the ability to refuse anonymous or unnamed RTKL requests.
This policy amendment reflects the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records’ recent decision in the Frank Curry and FOIA Buddy vs. South Western School District case, with the OOR stating that entities subject to the RTKL, which was enacted in Pennsylvania in 2008, have the right to deny requests if they are made by an anonymous person or a person with a fake name. Entities just have to make sure they amend their policies to reflect that.
The impetus for the case occurred in May when South Western School District received 10 RTKL requests from a man supposedly named “Frank Curry” using FOIA Buddy, a website that helps craft RTKL requests and allows people to submit them anonymously.
After an investigation, it was determined that the name “Frank Curry” was generated by AI to be used as a proxy name, or alias, and South Western was given permission to deny the requests by the OOR.
Despite the OOR’s decision in the case, the office wrote in a website update that FOIA Buddy, along with those who created and run the software, can be trusted.
“FOIA Buddy is operated by people who have a stated goal of efficiently promoting government transparency and accountability in a cost-effective manner for all involved,” the update reads. “There is no indication that FOIA Buddy is part of any phishing, scraping, or scamming activities.”
The update also recommended that all agencies able to receive RTKL requests review their open records policies, stating that if an agency wishes to be able to deny anonymous requests, the updated policy should be posted on the agency’s website.
Other entities across the state have recently received anonymous requests, including College Township.
“We automatically knew that everyone was getting them,” Assistant Township Secretary Jennifer Snyder said. “We got five (RTKL requests) in one day actually.”
Though the College Township council revised the township’s policy to reflect the case’s ruling, there still may be a challenge when identifying fake names on a RTKL request.
“When you look at the Frank Curry request, it really does look like a real name; it isn’t anonymous and there isn’t anything indicating that it isn’t a real person,” Snyder said. “However, whenever you research the name ‘Frank Curry,’ there isn’t a whole lot that comes up. It can be tricky to identify those fake names, but a quick Google search should be able to help with that determination.”
Councilwoman Susan Trainor agreed, saying that in the future, another policy amendment may be necessary due to the rapid growth of AI, and its ability to mimic RTKL requests submitted by real people.
Melissa Melewsky — media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, of which the Centre Daily Times is a member — said that regardless of the agency, its open records policy and whether the RTKL request is named or anonymous, each agency still much do its best to satisfy the request unless there are noticeable issues with it.
“All RTKL requests must be evaluated as promptly as possible under the circumstances, as required by the statute, and if there are issues with it, there is a duty to notify the requester and allow those deficiencies to be corrected,” Melewsky wrote in an email. “Ultimately, if AI is used to submit anonymous requests, the agency can take steps to verify the requester’s identity.”
Other entities in Pennsylvania to revise their RTKL policies to address anonymous submissions include Connoquenessing Township and West Cocalico Township.
College Township’s new open records policy amendment was passed unanimously by the council, and the township’s next meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on Sept. 5.