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UK Freedom of Information Act Comes Into Force
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."
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!
(scene: within a government office)
Me: I plan to take advantage of this new "Freedom of Information Act" straight away! Hello! Under the Freedom of Information Act, effective today, I would like to see all you can give me on Foo.
Government Representative: 'ello there. I believe information on Foo is exempt. Let me see.. yes. Yes it is. Sorry.
Me: All right then. How about Bar?
GR: Hmm, that's in volume 2. Let me see. Nope, exempt, can't let you see it.
Me: Just a peek?
GR: No.
Me: Any blank pages I could squint at?
GR: No, sorry, I can't even tell you if any pages are blank. It's exempt information, you see.
Me: Okay how about Baz? You must have *reams* of data on Baz.
GR: 'fraid not sir, it was made exempt just this morning. Rather a funny story actually, Smith here had finished making three copies of it and then Jones here said it had been made exempt. But then I bent over the shredder, and you'll notice I'm not wearing my tie today, because just at that momen--
Me: ALL RIGHT, I'm in a bit of a hurry. Can you at least tell me what subjects people have asked about today under Freedom of Information Act? We've got Foo, Bar, Baz.. anybody asked about Qux?
GR: I'm sorry sir, I don't know what you're talking about. Foo?
Me: But we were *just talking* about Foo, don't you remember all that?
GR: That information is exempt sir. Says so on page.. wait a minute I can't tell you about the memo we got. Exempt, you know.
Me: What *can* you give me?
GR: Oh! Well I've got a lovely pamphlet on the Freedom of Information Act! You can have as many of those as you want. Chock full of information! Completely non-exempt. Quite a good read, I'd say. Tells you all you need to know. Here you go.
Me: What?? This is a pamphlet on dealing with terrorist attacks, except someone has replaced the words "terrorist attacks" with "freedom of information act" using a crayon. It doesn't even make sense: "In case of freedom of information act, you should keep a supply of tinned food on hand".
GR: Oh yes. Got mine right here under the desk!
Me: It's time for the big foot to come down now and end this skit, isn't it? Gone on too long without a proper ending hasn't it?
GR: Yes sir, indeed... blimey, the wife! Fancy some spam before we go?
My first request: What exactly IS the secret to royal breeding? I really want to know how you came up with such a perfect moral and physical specimin as the Prince of Wales. Such perfection cannot arise in the inferior non-noble classes, surely!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
The UK Government (lovely honest people that they are) have been having a paper shredding and email deletion frenzy ahead of this law coming into force.
Of course it's just a coincidence - they just thought they would clean up all the old records by destroying lots of them. Nothing to see here, move along.
Some countries have had a powerful, constitutional freedom of information act since 1766.
The BBC has an recently launched an interesting new area of it's website devoted to public involvement in politics, called iCan. As you might expect, it contains an excellent plain english guide to what you can and can't get information on, and how to go about it here
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