Introduction to WhatDoTheyKnow
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/
What is WhatDoTheyKnow for?
To help you find out inside information about what the UK government is
doing.
How does the site work?
You choose the public authority that you would like information from, then
write a brief note describing what you want to know. We then send your
request to the public authority. Any response they make is automatically
published on the website for you and anyone else to find and read.
Why would I bother to do this?
You pay taxes, and then government does things with the money. All sorts of
things that affect your life, from healthcare through to national
defence. Some it does badly, some it does well. The more we find out about
how government works, the better able we are to make suggestions to
improve the things that are done badly, and to celebrate the things that are
done well.
Why would the public authority bother to reply?
Under Freedom of Information (FOI) law, they have to respond.
Who makes it?
WhatDoTheyKnow is created and run by mySociety <http://www.mysociety.org/> ,
and was initially funded by the JRSST Charitable Trust
<http://www.mysociety.org/2006/12/06/funding-for-freedom-of-information/> .
mySociety is a project of the registered charity UK Citizens Online
Democracy <http://www.ukcod.org.uk/UK_Citizens_Online_Democracy> . If you
like what we're doing, then you can make a donation
<https://secure.mysociety.org/donate/>
Making requests
You're missing the public authority that I want to request from!
Please contact us <http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/contact> with the
name of the public authority and, if you can find it, their contact email
address for Freedom of Information requests. If you'd like to help add a
whole category of public authority to the site, for example all primary
care trusts or all schools, then please edit this shared spreadsheet
<http://tinyurl.com/2cep8a> (Google account required).
How quickly will I get a response?
By law public authorities must respond "promptly", and in any event not
later than 20 working days after receiving your request. The date of that
hard limit is shown on the page for your request. You will be emailed if
this date goes by without a response, so you can send the public authority
another note to remind them that they are breaking the law. Note: If you had
to clarify your request, the clock starts from that date, instead of the
date they received your initial request.
What if I'm not satisfied with the response?
If you didn't get the information you asked for, or you didn't get it in
time, then read our page 'Unhappy about the response you got?
<http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/unhappy> '.
Can you tell me more of the nitty gritty about the process of making
requests?
Have a look at the access to official information
<http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/access_to_official_information.aspx>
pages on the
Information Commisioner's website.
Can I request information about myself?
Not using this site. Requests made using WhatDoTheyKnow are public, made
under the Freedom of Information Act, and cannot help you find information
about a private individual. If you would like to know what information a
public authority holds about yourself, you should make a "Subject Access
Request" in private using Data Protection law. The leaflet Subject Access -
A guide for data subjects
<http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_ap
plication/subject_access_-_guide_for_data_subjects.pdf> (on the Information
Commisioner's website) explains how to do this.
I'd like to keep my request secret! (At least until I publish my story)
WhatDoTheyKnow is currently only designed for public requests. All responses
that we receive are automatically published on the website for anyone to
read. You should contact the public authority directly if you would like to
make a request in private. If you're interested in buying a system which
helps you manage FOI requests in secret, then contact us
<http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/contact> .
Why can I only request information about the environment from some
authorities?
Some public authorities, such as South East Water
<http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/south_east_water> , don't come under the
Freedom of Information Act, but do come under another law called the
Environmental Information Regulations (EIR). It's a very similar law, so you
make a request to them using WhatDoTheyKnow in just the same way as an FOI
request. The only difference is that on the page where you write you
request, it reminds you that you can only request "environmental
information" and tells you what that means. It is quite broad.
So can I request information using EIR from other authorities?
Yes, just make a Freedom of Information (FOI) request as normal. The
authority has a duty to work out if the Environmental Information
Regulations (EIR) is the more appropriate legislation to reply under.
Privacy questions
Who gets to see my email address?
We will not disclose your email address to anyone, including the public
authority you are sending a request to, unless we are obliged to by law, or
you ask us to. If you send a message to another user on the site, then it
will reveal your email address to them. You will be told that this is going
to happen.
Will you send nasty, brutish spam to my email address?
Nope. After you sign up to WhatDoTheyKnow we will only send you emails
relating to a request you made, an email alert that you have signed up for,
or for other reasons that you specifically authorise. We will never give or
sell your email addresses to anyone else, unless we are obliged to by law,
or you ask us to.
Why will my name appear publically on the site?
It means that someone researching the same area can get in touch with you,
and maybe give you more information or ideas relating to your request. Also,
we're going to publish the response with the name of the civil servant who
wrote it, so it seems only fair that your name should be public too!
Therefore, we encourage you to use your real name, but you may use a
pseudonym if you would like to be anonymous.
So I can make an FOI request using a pseudonym?
It is good practice for the public authority to reply to an anonymous
request, except in special circumstances such as if they suspect you of
making vexatious requests. See Freedom of Information Good Practice Guidance
No 6
<http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/freedom_of_information/detai
led_specialist_guides/motive_blind_v1.0_25_10_071.pdf> for details. You
should refer to this if a public authority attempts to refuse a request
because you used a pseudonym. However, there are good reasons to use your
real name: see the previous question. If nothing else, it avoids the risk of
an authority being picky, ignoring the guidance and refusing your request.
They've asked for my postal address!
If a public authority asks you for your full, physical address, reply to
them saying that section 8.1.b of the FOI Act asks for an "address for
correspondence", and that the email address you are using is sufficient. The
Ministry of Justice has guidance on this
<http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/foi-procedural-what.htm> - "As well as
hard copy written correspondence, requests that are transmitted
electronically (for example, in emails) are acceptable ... If a request is
received by email and no postal address is given, the email address should
be treated as the return address." As if that isn't enough, the Information
Commissioner's Hints for Practitioners
<http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/freedom_of_information/pract
ical_application/foi_hints_for_practitioners_handing_foi_and_eir_requests_20
08_final.pdf> say "Any correspondence could include a request for
information. If it is written (this includes e-mail), legible, gives the
name of the applicant, an address for reply (which could be electronic), and
includes a description of the information required, then it will fall within
the scope of the legislation."
No no, they need a postal address to send a paper response!
If an authority only has a paper copy of the information that you want, they
may ask you for a postal address. To start with, try persuading them to scan
in the documents for you. You can even offer to gift them a scanner
<http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/car_parking_charges_policy_and_a#outg
oing-532> , which in that particular case embarrassed the authority into
finding one they had already. If that doesn't work, and you want to provide
your postal address privately in order to receive the documents, then please
contact us <http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/contact> .
How do you moderate request annotations?
Annotations on WhatDoTheyKnow are to help people get the information they
want, or to give them pointers to places they can go to help them act on it.
We reserve the right to remove anything else. Endless, political discussions
are not allowed. Post a link to a suitable forum or campaign site elsewhere.
FOI officer questions
I just got here from bottom of an FOI request, what is going on?
WhatDoTheyKnow is a service run by a charity. It helps ordinary members of
the public make FOI requests, and easily track and share the responses. The
FOI request you received was made by someone using WhatDoTheyKnow. You can
simply reply to the request as you would any other request from an
individual. The only difference is that your response will be automatically
published on the Internet. If you have privacy or other concerns, please
read the answers below. You might also like to read this page from the top
<http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/about> to find out more about what the
site does from the point of view of a user. You can also search the site to
find the authority that you work for, and view the status of any requests
made using the site. Finally, we welcome comments and thoughts from FOI
officers, please get in touch <http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/contact> .
Why are you publishing responses to FOI requests?
We think there are lots of benefits. Most importantly it will encourage the
public to be more interested and involved in the work of government. We also
hope that it will reduce the number of duplicate requests on any subject
that a public body will receive. Given that Freedom of Information responses
contain public information, which anybody could easily request again from
the public authority, we think there should be no reason not to publish it
widely.
Are the people making requests real people?
Yes. For the purposes of keeping track of responses we use
computer-generated email addresses for each request. However, before they
can send a request, each user must register on the site with a unique email
address that we then verify. You can search this site and find a page
listing all requests that each person has made.
An email isn't a sufficient address for an FOI request!
Yes it is. This letter from the ICO to Rother District Council
<http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/1142/response/2894/attach/5/200808061
00741260.pdf> gives guidance on the matter, specifically in the context of
requests made via WhatDoTheyKnow.
Aren't you making lots of vexatious requests?
WhatDoTheyKnow is not making any requests. We are sending requests on behalf
of our users, who are real people making the requests. Look at it like this
- if lots of different people made requests from different Hotmail email
addresses, then you would not think that Microsoft were making vexatious
requests. It is exactly the same if lots of requests are made via
WhatDoTheyKnow. Moreover, since all requests are public it is much easier
for you to see if one of our users is making vexatious requests, and for us
to block them when that happens. If that isn't enough for you, the letter
from the ICO to Rother District Council
<http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/1142/response/2894/attach/5/200808061
00741260.pdf> gives some guidance on the matter.
Isn't it a problem that you publish the names of civil servants and the text
of emails?
Officers or servants responding to requests are doing so on behalf of the
public as part of their job, and we publish their response on that basis.
Usually the names and phone numbers of FOI officers are already available on
authority websites. We also encourage our users to give their real name too,
so it is fair both ways.
Do you publish email addresses or mobile phone numbers?
We automatically remove email addresses and labelled mobile phone numbers
that are in the email part of responses from public authorities. Please
contact us <http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/contact> if we've missed
one. We don't currently remove these from attachments, such as Word
documents.
Can you take down private information about me?
If you see any information on the site which you'd like us to remove or
hide, then please let us know <http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/contact> .
We'll then remove it, provided it is genuinely private information.
Credit where credit is due
Which people made WhatDoTheyKnow?
Oh, nearly everyone (and maybe you too
<http://www.mysociety.org/volunteertasks> )!
* Heather Brooke <http://www.yrtk.org/> (vampy!
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/29/houseofcommons.michaelmartin
?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews> ) has been pushing the idea of a UK FOI archive
for years now.
* Both Phil Rodgers and Francis Irving
<http://www.flourish.org/blog/> entered it in a mySociety competition for
ideas for public interest websites to build.
* It won
<http://www.mysociety.org/2006/09/27/the-mysociety-call-for-proposals-the-wi
nner-and-runners-up/> , and then Chris Lightfoot (RIP :(
<http://mk.ucant.org/archives/000129.html> ) thought up the wheeze of
intercepting email responses to requests and automatically publishing them.
* Tom Steinberg got the cash to pay for the site from a dead
chocolate mogul <http://www.jrrt.org.uk/jrsstct.htm> (thank you!) ...
* ... so that Francis Irving, Angie Ahl, Tommy Martin, Louise
Crow, Matthew Somerville and Tom Steinberg could do the complex mixture of
design and coding to build what you see today.
* Thanks particularly to Julian Todd (great blog!
<http://www.freesteel.co.uk/wpblog/> ), Francis Davey, and Etienne Pollard
for using the site early on and giving feedback (and/or legal advice!), and
also to all our other users and testers.
* Lots of people have been looking up FOI email addresses, and
a few volunteering to run the site - most especially Adam McGreggor, Alex
Skene, John Cross and Tony Bowden.
* Finally we couldn't do any of this without those crazy
people <http://www.ukcod.org.uk/UKCOD_Trustees> who volunteer, amongst many
other things, to do the accounts and fill in our VAT return.
You're all stars.
----
Mark Perkins MLIS, MCLIP
www.markperkins.info
https://keyserver.pgp.com/
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