Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

UK Freedom of Information Act Comes Into Force

Posted by michael on from the only-as-good-as-the-enforcement dept.

norfolkboy writes "The UK Freedom of Information Act comes into force today, 1st January 2005. Under the new law, passed by Parliament in 2000, all citizens will have information to any non-exempt information from ANY English, Scottish, or Welsh public sector authority or institution, and the information must be presented within twenty days."

2 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. Spinning disk anyone? by macz · · Score: 4, Insightful
    This is going to mean a boom for the storage industry. There is no way you can keep this content on tape and pull it back in the time frame specified at the scale that this will grow to.

    You might be able to use disposable media for an individual case, or a single agency, but the scalability issues that this implies mean that you will need a convenient, inexpensive medium that is also online.

    --
    ...But I digress. TREMBLE PUNY HUMANS!ONE DAY MY SPECIES WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!
    1. Re:Spinning disk anyone? by geekboy642 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Not really, the U.S. has had similar laws for quite some time, and their filing system isn't all digital like you may be thinking.

      Also, they've got enough time built in to the law(minimum 20 days) that they can just charge a fee and run any papers through a copier.

      --
      Just another "DOJ fascist authoritarian totalitarian bootlicker" -- Zeio