An interesting case pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court will have an impact on public records in a technological age.

An important issue in the case is how local governments handle requests for public information that is kept on large databases developed by private contractors.
Here’s what happened. A subsidiary of the Multiple Listing Service called WIREdata requested access to databases that contained property assessment information for the eastern Wisconsin communities of Sussex, Port Washington and Thiensville.

The company said it wanted to provide the assessment information to “assist real estate agents.”

But the municipalities did not provide access. The company that developed the database used copyrighted software and believed that release of the information would compromise trade secrets.

In three different lawsuits, WIREdata sued, contending that the municipalities violated the Wisconsin Open Records Law.

A Waukesha County Circuit Court judge ruled against Sussex, but an Ozaukee County Circuit judge ruled for Port Washington and Thiensville.

The three cases were combined into one and in May the Wisconsin Court of Appeals ordered all three municipalities to provide access to the databases, contending that the municipalities failed to “uphold the letter and spirit of the open records law.”

It is a complicated and technical case, and it includes many technical issues to be addressed by the Supreme Court. But the bottom line for citizens is this: Public information should be available to the public — even if it is stored in a computer system using copyrighted software.

In our view, that’s the most important issue — the fact that Wisconsin law requires public access to public records, regardless of whatever fancy technology was developed to store those records.

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