Re: [PLUG] Help with Lawsuit

[Edmund Goppelt <webmaster@hallwatch.org>]

On Thu, May 01, 2003 at 10:14:25AM -0400, gabriel rosenkoetter wrote:
> On Thu, May 01, 2003 at 09:23:41AM -0400, Edmund Goppelt wrote:
> > To me it seems obvious that the data from the City's web site must
> > reside on a hard disk somewhere,
> 
> Really? Must it? It's not on a tape somewhere in the datastore for a
> DB2 (or similar) database on a mainframe?

Gabriel, thank you for your comments.  I think you may not have been
aware of some pertinent facts.  According to the contract with the
vendor, the BRT's web site runs on SQL2000 and Windows 2000 Server
ASP, not DB2.  I've got a copy of the contract up here, if you're
curious:

http://www.goppelt.net/pdf/mbn_contract.pdf

Since I assume you've seen web sites running off tape stores before,
can you point out a couple to me?

What kind of response time would you expect on a web site running off
a tape store?  I ask because the response time on the BRT web site is
on the order of a couple seconds for a database of 565,000 records.

> > "There is a file that is known EQID that rests on the mainframe and
> > contains only the BRT account number and the EQID number for
> > residential properties.  This data file does not exist on a disk."
> 
> 'cause that's sure what it sounds like to me...
> 
> So the only practical way to get those fields, without knowing the
> DBMS's on-media format (which is propietary and not something they
> divulge) is to run a query. They've got a website set up to run
> queries, and it provides the information you're asking for. They're
> not prepared to let you run your own queries (for security reasons
> probably), nor should they have to foot the bill for the developer
> time to set up the query that you want and a web interface on top of
> it.
> 
> Seems reasonable to me...

I understand that you see it that way.  However, I think in situations
like these it's often helpful to consider what the law says:

"...a public record shall be accessible for inspection and duplication
by a request in accordance with this act.  A public record shall be
provided to a requester in the medium requested if the public record
exists in that medium; otherwise, it shall be provided in the medium
in which it exists."  65 P.S. Section 66.2(a) of the Right to Know Act.

You can read the full text of the Right to Know Act here:

http://www.pa-newspaper.org/legal/handbook2/Right_to_Know_law.htm

Again, thank you for taking the time to write, both this time and with
respect to Oracle.

-- 

Ed Goppelt
http://www.hallwatch.org
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