Comment by darkarmani
2 months ago
Is the schema considered private information or just information not required to be released via FOIA? ie: Can't some nice employee leak this information or is it legally protected?
Once the information is released, can anyone can make FOIA requests using the schema?
Under Illinois law there are just two kinds of data: normal data and data exempt from FOIA. Up to and including the appellate review of Matt's case, schemas were in the formal, normal category. After the State Supreme Court review, they are now per se exempt from FOIA.
It's not legally protected. An employee could leak it. A public body can voluntarily reveal documents that are exempt from FOIA (absent some other Illinois law prohibiting disclosure). A public body can disclose source code, for instance, despite it being explicitly exempt in the statute. "This data is exempt" is an affirmative defense that the public body has to raise.