> Suppose I work on contemporary fiction and have specialised on the work of
> a famous living author. So a) my research notes contain material concerning
> a living individual without any form of informed consent having been given.
>
> Suppose I hear a radio interview with this author and take notes, and
> transcribe some of the things I think he/she has said (I may make mistakes
> in this).
>
> I then publish something inflammatory about the author (who I have never
> met).
>
> On the face of it they can put in a FoI request for my research notes about
> them. Are there Data Protection exemptions about the public activities of
> public figures?
If the request is from the person about who you have research notes, then it sounds to me more like a request under section 7(1) of the data protection act (right of a person to access their personal information) rather than a FoI request - by virtue of this, an explicit FoI request would be rejected under the exemptions of section 40 (information which falls under section 7(1) of data protection is exempt from FoI).
This does raise an interesting point about the application of the data protection act to researchers researching a living person which others may be able to comment on.
If the FoI request came from a different person, then you could possibly claim section 40 exemption (data protection taking precedence subject to a public interest test); section 21 (information available by other means), if the research notes are based on information available elsewhere (e.g. broadcast media) - although the fact these are incorrect notes and the broadcast may no longer be available raises issues here; section 22 (Information Intended For Future Publication) if you are planning to use these notes for future papers/publications.
Matthew
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