Dik
To what extent is this argument affected by the reality that local
authorities have, for decades, had a duty to make planning application
documentation available for consultation by members of the public who
turn up at their offices? Would the argument be that all authorities
should remove all signatures (applicant, surveyors, lawyers and perhaps
other parties such as objectors) from the planning application files?
Would The National Archives similarly have to remove signatures from
file notes, meeting minutes and so on from records they produce to
researchers in Kew? And would FOI Officers also have to remove all
signatures from anything they send to enquirers? And should Civil
Servants and Officers decline to sign letters in case someone steals
their signature?
I (personally) suspect that the answer is that redacting all signatures
from all documents made available to members of the public by any arm of
government using any channel would be a disproportionate response to the
level of threat posed by identity theft, regardless of PARSOL.
Marc Fresko
(at least, this is probably from Marc Fresko - you'll just have to trust
it as there is no signature.)
Cornwell Management Consultants plc
-----Original Message-----
From: The UK Records Management mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dik Allison
Sent: 07 December 2005 00:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Online Planning Applications - possible issue with identity
theft
Our council (Newark and Sherwood), like many others, now publishes
images of all planning applications on the Internet. These show the full
name and address details, along with a scanned image of the applicant's
signature.
We have asked Newark & Sherwood to redact the signatures (i.e. blank
them
out) in order to reduce the opportunity for identity theft. Their
initial reaction has been fairly dismissive.
There will clearly be other forms with similar information on display.
Please can I have some feedback from the good folks of RMS on your views
about this.
Dik Allison
Senior Partner, Allison Consultancy (www.allicon.com).
PS - if you want to see our form for reference go to:
http://www.nsdc.info/eplanning/default.aspx?
sid=1&sindex=1&id=4&refno=05/00973/FUL
(if the URL is split onto 2 lines you will need to rejoin it manually)
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