<p>I love public records laws like a firefighter loves his ax. I love the heft of the federal Freedom of Information Act (or the California Public Records Act) when I slam it into the door of the establishment. And I love it when it gets sharpened.</p><p>Since 2009, open-records activists and the city of San Jose have waged a court battle over how far these lawswhich are designed to make sure citizens can access government documentsextend to digital communications, particularly when an official decides to use his private email rather than his government-issued account.</p><p>In this case, Ted Smith was the plucky citizen who wanted to know what wheeling and dealing members of the San Jose City Council were doing with developers on their personal email accounts and through text messages on their personal phones. The city said no way, (citizens of San) Jose, those are private. Last month, a Santa Clara County judge ruled against the city in a no-duh decision that San Jose's now taking up the appeal ladder.</p><p>Consider the implications of the city's argument. If an official knows his personal email accounts are protected from scrutiny, what's to stop all of government from moving to Gmail and conducting its business fully in the dark? This makes me want to get my hatchet out and do what Kai the Heroic Hitchhiker did to that psychopath who thought he was Jesus. (Don't know what I'm talking about? Watch this.)</p><p><a href="http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-11704-the-government-can%E2%80%99t-hide-behind-gmail.html">Keep reading...</a></p>