what is a public record

A public record is a document or piece of information that is not considered confidential and pertains to the conduct of government. Public records are created by or for a government agency and are the result of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that was passed in the United States in 1966 with the intention of providing transparency to the American people regarding anything touched by a government worker or tax dollar at any level of government. Depending on jurisdiction, examples of public records include information pertaining to births, deaths, court records, emails, and more. Each government has policies and regulations that govern the availability of information contained in public records, and a common restriction is that data about a person is not normally available to others. However, with the advent of the Internet and the information age, access to public records in the United States to anyone who wishes to view them has dramatically increased. Public records must be accessible to the public and must be available for requesters to obtain in a timely manner.