In 2017, a freedom of information request was filed with the Rodin Museum seeking public access to 3D scans of Auguste Rodin's sculptures. The museum resisted with what the plaintiff describes as a campaign of lies and open lawlessness. When Alexis Fitzjean Ó Cobhthaigh took up the case, the French government's Commission on Access to Administrative Documents (CADA) ruled in favor of the requester, finding the scans were administrative documents.
Despite this ruling, the museum director confided plans to ignore French freedom of information law. In 2019, the case proceeded to the Administrative Tribunal of Paris, where organizations including Communia, Wikimédia France, and La Quadrature du Net joined as co-plaintiffs. However, at both the Paris court and the Conseil d’appel, judges were described as extremely deferential to the museum.
The plaintiff alleges the court not only tolerated the museum's falsehoods but rewarded them, declining to hear evidence and inventing new falsehoods. The museum reportedly claimed technological inability to use its own high-resolution laser-scanned 3D point cloud documents, which are in open plaintext formats. Visualizations obtained by the plaintiff illustrate the alleged fraud on the public and the court.
The museum's funding applications, forced disclosure via separate FOI procedures, reportedly detailed the misappropriation of public funds.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing