Government Record Access Restrictions

Government Record Access Restrictions States legislate various different kinds of access restrictions to otherwise public records. Here are the prevalent ones that have been applied to certain county records, including military discharge papers: 1. Tangible Interest A person close to the subject or involved in obtaining a benefit for the subject is said to have a tangible interest in the record. Acceptable requesters include: (1) Subject of the record. (2) Agent or representative of the subject. This is a relationship documented in writing giving authority to represent, either by the subject or by a court. This could include attorney, attorney in fact, conservator, guardian, or insurance company. Some statutes list attorney separately, meaning that an attorney’s word that she represents the subject can be trusted without further documentation. (3) Relatives. This term is vague. There are immediate blood relatives, such as mother, father (parents), sister, brother (siblings), son, daughter (children), and there is the close legal relative, a spouse, which together with adopted children may be called immediate family. There are more remotely related relatives such as grandparents and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, etc. Some states couch this group as the “survivors” of the subject. [A commentator proposed that access by relatives should meet the same standard of authorization as any other representative as this would avoid confusion from competing interests in the family as in the Ted Williams affair.] (4) Indirect agents. Funeral directors, for example, are another step removed from the subject, but may be included on the list, along with government agencies with an interest in assisting the subject, such as courts of law and veterans service officers. Although genealogists and genealogical societies are mentioned in some statutes, they do not have a tangible interest. If special access is to be given for genealogical purposes, that would be a use restriction as discussed next. Proof The tangible interest statute should specify the form of proof that will be acceptable for access to the record. Proof may include copy of a power of attorney, showing a drivers’ license, or even providing a notarized application. 2. Use or Purpose Restrictions Rather than restricting access to otherwise confidential information based on tangible interest, it is possible to try to restrict by statute the purpose for which the information may to be used. A use restriction is much weaker than a tangible interest restriction because it deals with intent rather than fact. Effectively, the requesting party promises, usually by signing a request form, only to use the information for stated, lawful purposes, and not for other purposes, either enumerated or in general. A staple of many state voter registration laws is that the voter registration information will not be used “for commercial purposes,” whatever that means. Some forms of this restriction in existing statutes are: Provide a benefit to the subject— the person needs the information to provide the benefit and submits satisfactory evidence of such need. Genealogical purposes. Tangible interest and use restrictions may be strengthened by requiring the requester’s identity to be proved by notary public acknowledgement. 3. Combined Restrictions There is no inherent restriction on the use of records by anyone with a tangible interest who obtains a copy of it under a tangible-interest-restriction-based law. A tangible interest restriction can be combined with a use restriction. In these instances, someone who wants to obtain a copy of a military discharge paper, for example, must not only prove she has an interest, but then must promise that the paper will be use for one or only a few purposes.

February 26, 2003 PRIA 1 4. Content Restriction The distinction between information and the record or document itself may be made, so that certain content is defined as public and/or certain content is defined as confidential. In CT, the following information on a military discharge form is considered public: (1) Name (2) Residential address (3) Dates of service (4) Discharge status All the information in the document is available based on a use restriction, as discussed above. In Michigan, the county clerk MAY make certain discharge information public, at her discretion. Otherwise the papers are subject to a tangible interest restriction. The practicality of this kind of content restriction provision must be contested by anyone familiar with how local recording and filing offices operate. A more practical approach was taken by Oklahoma. The OK statute requires that the names of subjects be made public (which the index entry does), but that the form itself be kept confidential. 5. Type of Copy Restriction Some states distinguish between types of copies. Only certain restricted categories of requesters may obtain a certified copy, but the general public may only get an uncertified copy. 6. Index Access Only Restriction Computerized indexes may contain index entries to certain otherwise confidential records, which may then only be accessed according to a tangible interest or use restriction. Another version of such a restriction is to make the index to public information available on the Internet, as man courts do, but to require the searcher to go to the court physically to retrieve the underlying records. 7. Contracting Party Restriction Although there may be no tangible interest or use restriction, the government agency may require searchers to sign a contract in order to obtain access to records. This restriction was more prevalent prior to the availability of the Internet when many agencies charged for remote access. 8. Notice One state took the occasion of amending its military discharge papers statute to require county offices to post the following useful sign: DOCUMENTS RECORDED IN THE RECORDER'S OFFICE GENERALLY ARE CONSIDERED TO BE PUBLIC RECORDS. OTHER PERSONS HAVE ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN RECORDED DOCUMENTS. (OH) No other state require a specific notice whether any records are on the public record or are confidential, A proposed Virginia law would require court and recording offices to post a notice of what documents are available on the Internet. 9. Penalties Under a tangible interest statute, the gatekeeper can demand some form of proof before the requester obtains the papers. Under a use restriction statute, there is no effective form of gatekeeping. Sure the statute can require a signed request form, and can even require proof of identity of the signer and even a fingerprint record, but all the subject can count on is the promise of the requester. Because this restriction is so much more difficult to enforce than the tangible interest provision, it seems reasonable that a statute should contain significant penalties for breaking the promise.

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