Q: Can a person request records under the CA Public Records Act and then make money off of the re-distribution of these records? For example, can the records be put on a website that has advertising or can the records be outright sold? Clearly people could still request the records directly from the agency if they wished to avoid the profit-seeking website.
A: As a general matter, the Public Records act is requestor-neutral. That is, the agency, with certain exceptions, must treat all requesters the same. For that reason, the Act expressly bars “limitations on access to a public record based upon the purpose for which the record is otherwise subject to disclosure.” Govt. Code section 6257.5.
That being said, there are some provisions of the law that specifically bar the commercial use of public records. The most common of these is section 6254(f)(3) which requires an agency to provide the address of every person arrested, and every victim of a crime, but only where the requester swears, under the penalty of perjury that the request is made for a scholarly, journalistic, political or governmental purpose” or by a licensed investigator.
That same section specifically prohibits the sue of the address information “directly or indirectly to sell a product or service to any individual or group of individuals, and the requester shall execute a declaration to that effect under the penalty of perjury.” Obviously such a provision would not be necessary if the sale of public records was otherwise prohibited.
Bryan Cave LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to FAC hotline inquiries. In responding to inquiries, we can give general information regarding open government and freedom of speech issues but cannot provide specific legal advice or representations.