Will Los Angeles City Files & Records be Stored on Google Servers?

Photo by manfrys via Flickr

Let's face it. The city of Los Angeles is truly in the stone ages when it comes to technology. City workers may be addicted to their crackberries and the City Council File Management System may be pretty sweet, but other than that, our tax dollars are disappearing into a non-efficient system. Now enter the idea of partnering with Google's e-mail and apps program. From the LA Times:

If approved by the City Council, responsibility for protecting the internal data and public records would be shifted from the city to Google, according to a report submitted this week to a council committee that will weigh the proposed $7.25-million contract.

[snip]

That system, known as "cloud computing," would eliminate the need for the city to store programs or information on individual in-house computers. "Government agencies at all levels -- federal, state and city -- are looking to cloud computing as a way to advance innovation while decreasing costs," Google spokeswoman Aviva Gilbert said.

Of concern is the security of the system--will it be easier to hack than the current and what about police records?--and who will be responsible for public information requests, etc. Washington D.C. is the only other major city using Google for this type of work.