[PLUG] City Lawyer: We Don't Store Data on Hard Disk

[Edmund Goppelt <webmaster@hallwatch.org>]

I wanted to thank this list for its support and advice on my Right to
Know action against the City and bring you up-to-date on what has been
happening in the case.  For those of you unfamiliar with the story,
the City has been claiming in open court that they don't store their
property database on hard disk:

http://www.hallwatch.org/rtkasuits/news/1052912044600

According to public records, the City's property database exists both
as an Oracle 9i database as well as on the City's mainframe.  Several
members of this list were kind enough to write affidavits rebutting
the City's claim.  View the affidavits:

http://www.hallwatch.org/rtkasuits/suits/brt/briefs/brtaffidavits

The City lawyer, Mimi Choksi, spent a good deal of time rebutting our
affidavits in her legal brief.  Read how she went about it here:

http://www.hallwatch.org/rtkasuits/suits/brt/briefs/choksi_response

Yesterday the Judge heard oral argument in the case.  Here are some of
the highlights of the City lawyer's presentation:

"The reason [the two fields are] not stored on a disk is that the
information is constantly changing; it doesn't make sense to have it
on a hard disk."

Ms. Choksi dismissed our four affidavits as follows:

"Complete strangers can't have a better understanding than the BRT and
its consultants. No one understands the City's computer systems better
than the City."

Again, I'd like to thank listmembers for their advice and friendly
criticism and extend my special thanks to those who wrote affidavits
in support of my case.  

-- 

Ed Goppelt, webmaster@hallwatch.org
http://www.hallwatch.org
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