Does Geneva - or other cities - have to reveal e-mail addresses?

Like many municipalities, Geneva encourages residents to receive city communication electronically.

It no longer mails paper copies of the quarterly city newsletter; you can only get it by e-mail, or by picking up a copy at city offices. Residents can also sign up for a weekly e-mail bulletin of city news, and if they sign up for an electricity use load reduction program, are notified by e-mail.

But city officials, citing changes in the state's Freedom of Information Act law, are afraid people won't want to use these means, because they can't guarantee users' e-mail addresses can be kept private.

Several weeks ago the city sent a notice to subscribers telling them that a "new provision" in the law allows people to ask for the city's e-mail subscription list.

"While personal e-mail addresses are exempt from this law, the city's list does not distinguish between personal and business e-mails; therefore, the addresses would be subject to release," the note said.

Almost immediately, 200 of the approximately 2,700 subscribers dropped their subscriptions, said Mary McKittrick, city administrator.

E-mail listservs have always been obtainable under the present FOIA laws, according to Cara Smith, a public access counselor and deputy chief of staff for the Illinois attorney general's office. The attorney general oversees enforcement of FOIA law.

And governments have always been able to refuse to hand over those addresses if they considered the addresses to fit the "private information" exception in the law. Private information includes "unique identifiers" such as Social Security numbers, home or personal telephone numbers and personal e-mail addresses, according to the law.

Now, however, governments will have to get the approval of a public access counselor to deny such a request, she said.

So far, Geneva seems to be the only government agency in the area that has sent out such a notice to its listserv.

The changes in the law take effect Friday.