STATE OF MISSISSIPPI JIM HOOD ATTORNEY GENERAL February 10, 2015 Mike Masnick Techdirt.com MuckRock News DEPT MR 15537 Post Of?ce Box 55819 Boston, Massachusetts 02205-5819 155 3 7-3 3947427@requests.muckrock.com Dear Mr. Masnick: This letter is in response to your e-mail dated February 4, 2015, seeking a more detailed explanation of our of?ce?s estimate of costs to respond to your January 9, 2015, public records request. It is my understanding from our IT department that the ?ve hours of time estimated to conduct the search includes searching e-mail accounts for all of our nearly 300 employees during the time period in question, and the time to export and setup the documents for review. A preliminary, non-exhaustive search indicated the existence of nearly 900 e?mails potentially responsive to your request. It is unknown how many of those e?mails may also have attachments. Assuming a conservative average of two minutes per e?mail, we estimate that it will take 30 attorney hours to review the potentially responsive documents. Without having seen the potentially responsive e?mails, it is dif?cult to say what exemptions may apply. However, we anticipate that many of the e-mails do not fall under the de?nition of ?public records? as de?ned by Miss. Code Ann. or constitute investigative reports pursuant to Miss. Code Ann.? and/or attorney work product pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. 25-1-102. Because each potentially responsive e?mail must be reviewed for these exceptions, there are not any categories that are clearly releasable without rev1ew. As for narrowing the request, it would be helpful if you could provide us with speci?c search terms or some other identifying information regarding the subject or target of your request. Additionally, you might consider narrowing the scope of the search to Speci?c employees or divisions in this of?ce, if possible. WALTER SILLERS BUILDING POST OFFICE BOX 220 JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI 39205-0220 - TELEPHONE (601) 359-3630 - TELEITAX (601) 359-2003 As indicated previously, we will revise the estimate as necessary after the search is completed and we have a better idea of how many documents must be reviewed, and we will refund any of the unused estimated costs to you. However, it is not the general policy of this of?ce to waive the prepayment of fees associated with public records requests. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or if you would like to discuss this matter further. Sincerely, Mary 0 Woods Special Assistant Attorney General