Clerks shouldn't charge for personal copies

MILWAUKEE - Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says records custodians shouldn't charge people for making copies of court records with personal cameras and scanners.

State Courts Director John Voelker asked Van Hollen in 2012 to revisit his stance that a court clerk was entitled to charge a reporter for photographing 20 pages from a case file. Van Hollen issued a six-page opinion in response Tuesday saying state law doesn't authorize a court clerk or registers in probate to collect fees when the requester makes no copies without any aid from the clerk or register.

However, the records custodian can choose whether to allow someone to make his own copies with personal technology.

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, didn't immediately return messages.