It's Friday!
And of course everything the Information Commissioner says is Gospel -
Praise be!!
Lets look at the advice in more detail
The Question
I would like advice as to whether a request for information received via an
electronic mailing list, which is distributed to list members who are
employed by public authorities, is to be interpreted as a request for
information under Section 1(1) FoIA.
Does is make any difference if the mailing list is open to all or just
restricted to members who are employees of a specific sector of public
authorities, e.g Higher and Further Education?
A request for information received via an electronic mailing list should
be interpreted as a request for information under Section 1(1) of the
Freedom of Information Act. As long as the request is in writing, states
the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence (email
addresses are sufficient) and describes the information requested, the
means by which the request is received is insignificant. Furthermore, it
would not make any difference whether the mailing list is open to all or
just members who are employed in a specific sector of public authorities.
This is because everyone has an equal right of access under the Act.
Some thoughts
Ok, note the lead in the discussion - a request for information received.
If we institute no-mail then the request is not received, does the ICO
have the power to investigate whether no-mail was active - unlikely. If
we are not members of jismail (tut tut - splitters!!)we have not received
the request.
In any case, if a requester points the request to a public authority and
the authority recevies that request so what! We would deal with the
request in any case, whatever the medium used to transmit, after all it is
not local government credibility being re-built through FOI (although DCA
do not agree), we readily assist wherever possible.
Hands up! who is going to use jiscmail for formal FOI enquiries, come on
out of the forest, show yourself!
The ICO says "common sense" I think they need to use the same themselves
and consider their initial guidance carefully, a simple reference to
legislation requires assessment, risk mangement and common sense, not
applied by the ICO in their response - in my view. If legislation was so
clear cut we would save a fortune on Legal Aid!
Happy Friday!
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