Case Study:
City of Ocala

Introduction

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press publishes (and continually updates) a comprehensive document called the Open Government Guide, which outlines open records laws and practices in all 50 states of the U.S.

According to the guide, few open records laws can compare with that of the state of Florida. It says:

The City of Ocala and the Florida Sunshine Law

The City of Ocala is located in central Florida and has a population of around 60,000; the Greater Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 355,000. Silver Springs State Park lies just to the East of the city and acts as a gateway to the Ocala National Forest.

Like the majority of local government entities these days, the City of Ocala has turned to the Internet and social media to share crucial information with citizens and visitors to the region.

“The City of Ocala can be found on nearly all social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram,” says John Butz, the Senior Network Systems Engineer responsible for overseeing the city’s infrastructure. “These platforms are used to engage with the citizens of Ocala, sharing information from multiple departments such as Ocala Electric Utility, Ocala Fire Rescue, and Ocala Recreation and Parks.”

The city also has an active website (https://www.ocalafl.org/), where it shares news and important updates, and also provides information regarding topics like licensing and permits, recreational facilities, utility services, and transportation.

Very aware of how expansive open records laws in Florida are, the City of Ocala decided to take a proactive approach when it came to collecting and archiving its online accounts.

“Thankfully there was no specific event that led to us implementing a solution,” says Butz. “But we were very aware of the implications of the Florida Sunshine Law, so we decided to take a best practices approach to meeting recordkeeping requirements.”

“The open records laws were written in such a way that they allow for records retention in this fast-changing digital era. The medium a record is created in—or maintained in, for that matter—does not have any impact on retention requirements; only the information itself is important. This means that we are free to disseminate information through effective modern channels like Facebook and Twitter, but it also means that all that data has to be archived,” says Butz.

Implementing a Recordkeeping Solution

When searching for a solution, the city realized that it needed something that was dependable and would not result in any gaps in the organization’s archives.

“Due to the legal expectations, it was imperative for us to have a solution that was reliable in archiving data on a regular basis,” says Butz. “It was also vital we have something that would track changes and allow us to see all content, even if it were deleted from social media.”

The City of Ocala quickly identified Pagefreezer as a promising solution.

The platform is overseen entirely by the Office of Information Technology, and although there have been occasional requests to view archived content, Pagefreezer is largely seen as a compliance tool that keeps the organization thoroughly in line with Sunshine Law requirements.

“For us, it has mostly been a ‘set it, and forget it.’ Pagefreezer has been extremely simple to configure and maintain. Another exceptional experience has been the Pagefreezer support team. In the few times we have encountered an issue, support has been quick to respond and resolve the problem” says Butz. “Ultimately, the greatest benefit Pagefreezer has provided is the peace of mind of knowing all of our content is backed up on a regular basis and easily accessible, if needed. It has proven to be a vital tool that assists the city in providing government transparency to our citizens.”

Pagefreezer Legal and Compliance Solutions

At Pagefreezer, we offer the following features to help public-sector organizations comply with misrepresentation regulations and recordkeeping requirements:

Automatic Archiving of Enterprise Collaboration, Social Media and (Secure) Websites

Pagefreezer archives enterprise collaboration platforms, websites, blogs, social media, password protected web portals and even “behind-the-firewall” intranets automatically.

Live Replay/Browsing of Archives

Log into your Pagefreezer dashboard to view a list of all archived websites and social media on a single scalable platform. Click on an archive to open your website or social media account as if it is still live and view how the site looked on a specified date.

Keyword Monitoring and Policy Alerts

Pagefreezer’s extended text pattern monitoring makes it easy for customers to monitor social media platforms and receive alerts when inappropriate or sensitive information is shared. Instead of entering multiple flagged words, users can select pre-canned text patterns that instantly add large sets of words. Our extended libraries include offensive language and phrases related to public safety, as well as common sensitive information such as passport, healthcare, and banking numbers.

Tracked Changes and Deletions

You can easily track any changes and deletions made to your online content with an ability to pinpoint text changes when and where exactly they were made. This includes social media accounts, where all edits/additions/deletions to an account can be viewed through the dashboard. So even if a comment or post has been deleted from the live platform, it will still exist in the archive.

Defensible Legal Evidence

Digital archives are worthless in case of legal claims unless evidence of data integrity and authenticity is provided. Pagefreezer secures this by placing a SHA-256 digital signature and timestamp on each page.

Advanced Search

Pagefreezer’s powerful search functions allow you to find relevant posts and comments across all archived social media accounts. Simply enter the name, word, or phrase in the search bar and see all posts and comments across all social media accounts that contain the search term. You can also narrow your search by filtering for specific social media platforms, accounts, dates, and more.

Quick Response to Information Requests

Should students or staff request archived online information, Pagefreezer makes it extremely simple to pull up this content and share it through a public shareable URL. This quick turnaround is a major benefit, saving tremendously on costs to turn around this data.

Easy Data Exports

Your data is yours and remains yours. When dealing with an audit or legal claim that requires a physical copy of your website or social media records, you can export your data in HTML, WARC or PDF format including relevant metadata.

See Pagefreezer in Action

Need more tips or clarification about complying with FOIA and Open Records requirements? For more information on how we can help you keep accurate records of your online data, book a demo with one of our solution advisors.