What would therefore be the identifier of corresponding with X?
There is not simply a right to have the information, but the supplier has a
duty to advise the requester of their rights, to advise them of whether the
information is possessed by the organisation, to direct them to another
organisation, and to clarify with them what information is required or what
the organisation can supply within the parameters of the Act (time spent on
the request etc).
It is unclear that given the duties imposed on the organisation by the Act,
it is unclear how one can communicate with no individual.
It seems to me that simply to establish the organisation had complied with
the Act would require that a name or a pseudonym be supplied so that the
organisation could be sure that they were dealing with the same individual.
It is difficult enough administering the Act in a public organisation
without the requester not supplying a name.
If you mean that the requester should just request the organisation to
publish in the public domain - that is fine, but the requester has to decide
what they are looking for - in an ideal world a public organisation would
publish everything that it had in the public domain - but I would suggest
that, if that happened, public administration would grind to a halt.
Nick Landau
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Broadfoot" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 7:17 PM
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Anonymity when making FOI requests of your
own organisation
>Having followed this thread with some interest I am confused as to the
>purpose or need for a 'real' name in order to facilitate the communication
>of FOI data...
Perhaps the question should be why is there a need for a name at all? If
a request arrives minus a name I suspect many, perhaps the majority, would
put that request into the category of an 'invalid request'. Yet in many
other circumstances communications successfully arrive without being
addressed by name. So I cannot see that the need for a name to be included
as part of a request is merely a matter of facilitating communication
(except perhaps where a response is to be sent to a large organization or
business). Perhaps the Act would have been better drafted if the
requirement to include a name as part of a request had been made optional.
It seems to me that the requirement to provide a name served some other
purpose (at least in the mind of the Parliamentary draftsman). Perhaps it
was thought that by providing name an individual would be discouraged from
hiding behind their anonymity to make frivolous or otherwise harassing
requests.
Whilst I have no real issue with individuals using a pseudonym such as
John or Joanna Smith I do think that using a name such as Father
Christmas, Mickey Mouse etc can be indicative that an individual's motive
is something more than merely exercising a right to seek information
whether it is for whistle blowing or any other purpose. The use of
a 'silly' pseudonym does not assist an applicant at all.
Finally, I am left wondering what happens when the person whose pseudonym
is Mickey Mouse finds himself for some reason eventually taking his
grievance to the Tribunal or to the Courts. At that stage unless there
are directions otherwise the real name does become known. So it seems to
me the use of a pseudonym confers no particular advantage and in a legal
forum may place them at a disadvantage.
Rgds,
Kevin
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