Just over a week ago, I sent in a formal appeal regarding the Seattle Police Department’s response to my early February request for the records and maps relating to the wireless mesh network. Like clockwork, I received a reply 5 business days later stating that the department was reviewing my request, and that I would receive a response on May 1st, 2013. I really hope this was an April fools joke. Three months to produce records on an active project under public scrutiny has certainly crossed the line to excessive. In addition, I’ve been notified that all of my other outstanding requests, including one scheduled for a response April 15th, have been canceled.
Given the ever increasing delays and the lack of future public meetings, I can only conclude that the current game plan is to sweep this problem under the table and hope everyone forgets about it. Since the Belltown public meeting in mid-March, there has been no press coverage, no documents released, and no future meeting scheduled. Well, take note: I have not forgotten. I will not rest until I feel we are free from unnecessary, invasive government surveillance systems.
(On a somewhat unrelated note, it appears the Seattle Police Department is using color laser printers that encode each page with identifying information. Take a look at the reply PDF. If you zoom in, the yellow dot pattern becomes extremely apparent. I guess it’s time to get a list of all the department printers and serial numbers so we can track their documents.)