"Redaction isn’t terribly difficult to do correctly."
It can be. Multiple layers of vague regulations, multiple interpretations, and lots of shades of grey. Some FOIL requests can be huge, so you're reading through hundreds or thousands of pages searching for sensitive information. And since FOIL requests have a time limit, you're usually in a hurry.
So mistakes get made. And people who have never dealt with redaction before get pulled into the job. Records Access Officer tends to be one of those hats that gets stuck on someone too junior to object, and they're frequently too inexperienced to know the job. Adobe Pro makes the actual redacting easy, but you need to pay for the license.
Oftentimes it takes a special widget or technique to get the records into a PDF. Paper documents are obvious - although they can create their own problems - but what do you do w/ a database? I know someone who bluescreened three computers in a day converting long email chains (w/ attached documents) into PDF.
Blech, sorry for the speil. Short version: yeah, actually it can get tricky and I feel a lot of sympathy for people who rarely do it having their efforts put in the spotlight.
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[Subject Redacted]
"Redaction isn’t terribly difficult to do correctly." It can be. Multiple layers of vague regulations, multiple interpretations, and lots of shades of grey. Some FOIL requests can be huge, so you're reading through hundreds or thousands of pages searching for sensitive information. And since FOIL requests have a time limit, you're usually in a hurry. So mistakes get made. And people who have never dealt with redaction before get pulled into the job. Records Access Officer tends to be one of those hats that gets stuck on someone too junior to object, and they're frequently too inexperienced to know the job. Adobe Pro makes the actual redacting easy, but you need to pay for the license. Oftentimes it takes a special widget or technique to get the records into a PDF. Paper documents are obvious - although they can create their own problems - but what do you do w/ a database? I know someone who bluescreened three computers in a day converting long email chains (w/ attached documents) into PDF. Blech, sorry for the speil. Short version: yeah, actually it can get tricky and I feel a lot of sympathy for people who rarely do it having their efforts put in the spotlight.