Laura Isensee reports:
A debate about personal and public information is growing in Miami Lakes, as a town volunteer plans to file a lawsuit this week to protect e-mails of residents from public records requests.
Ceasar Mestri, an attorney and volunteer on the town’s public safety committee, announced his legal plans to the Town Council at its meeting Tuesday night. He was among half a dozen residents and volunteers who urged the mayor and council members to keep e-mail information private.
Under Florida law, anyone can inspect and copy state, county and federal records, such as police reports and salaries of government employees. There are some exemptions to the law, such as Social Security numbers, records identifying sexual abuse victims and home addresses of law enforcement officers.
Mestri said he would seek a declaratory judgment so that a judge can decide whether residents’ information is considered a public record or whether “our citizens’ expectation of privacy is correct.”
Read more in the Miami Herald.