Somerset County flooded with AI open-records request, PA adjusts policies

SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — A barrage of Right-to-Know requests submitted through artificial intelligence tools (AI) has raised eyebrows across governmental agencies in PA, including Somerset County.

These essentially anonymous requests have pinged Somerset County’s inbox by the dozens over the past several weeks, according to our media partners at the Tribune-Democract .

They are being sent under the name “Frank Curry” at an address related to FOIA Buddy, an AI web-based business that files open records requests on behalf of paying customers.

Each state has its own laws for accessing state and local governmental agency records. In Pennsylvania, the Right-to-Know statute provides access to information from local governmental agencies including counties, municipalities and school districts.

The Somerset County Solicitor Jacklyn M. Shaw told our media partners at the Tribune-Democract that even though the FOIA Buddy requests are sent without the name and address of the requester, the fact that they include a name at a physical address had required the county to treat them like any other request.

This has recently changed though following recent guidance from the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, which oversees and decides Right-to-Know appeals and performs trainings on the law.

An alert on their website , states the office “Has been contacted by numerous agencies who have received Right-to-Know Law requests from requesters using FOIA Buddy.”

“The Office of Open Records recommends that agencies review their internal policies regarding the acceptance of anonymous Right-To-Know Law requests,” the office said. “If an agency has decided to not accept anonymous requests, that policy should be prominently posted on an agency webpage.”

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For more on this story, visit our media partners at the Tribune-Democract’s website .

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