Business Information and Illinois FOIA Requests

The Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) should be more than just an afterthought for businesses that transact with state and local governments or are subject to regulations requiring disclosures to such agencies. As William Cook and James Cook point out in their September Illinois Bar Journal article, “Business Information and Illinois FOIA requests,” unbeknownst to many businesses, as soon as a public body receives a FOIA request, sensitive business information (SBI) is potentially subject to disclosure, regardless of whether the requester is actually seeking SBI.

The authors go on to describe why the risks associated with such disclosures are all the more dangerous as FOIA requesters increasingly seek larger volumes of information with an explicit goal of simply publishing it to the internet. Moreover, records in the possession of businesses that contract to perform a “governmental function” are subject to FOIA under certain circumstances. Fortunately, the Cooks go on to show how businesses can implement simple measures to protect SBI from disclosure and reduce the likelihood records in their possession are subject to FOIA.

Read the article Business Information and Illinois FOIA Requests in the September issue of the Illinois Bar Journal.