I am seriously concerned about where this is
going. We have coped with the introduction of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, but only on the basis of restraint and requests being made by research
companies, journalists and private individuals such as our own Council-Tax
payers who have a reasonable interest in the information. I think the
website allows anonymous requests for information to be made virtually as easily
as a Google search, but that was clearly not what Parliament intended having
regard to section 8. Whilst we are able to refuse vexatious and repeated
requests under section 14, that is of little use if we don't know who is making
the requests and where they are. In fact, this Council was only bombarded with
requests when I took a stand on the need for a correspondence address, and
eight of the requests had a common theme which raises the suspicion that the
requests are not coming from even anonymous members of the public unassociated
with the site, but if the site achieves real "cult" status all public
authorities will be overwhelmed.
I fear that the first casualty of this would be the
responsible journalists and members of the public who have been making direct
requests to public authorities.
I see in relation
to "Food Wastage" you are taking issue with whether "FOIRequester" is a valid name for the purposes of section
8. In connection with that I would respectfully draw your attention
to the advice in the web site which suggests that a real-sounding pseudonym is
preferable to a made-up one. You seem to have processed requests from
"Paul" and a 19th-century American author, and I suggest that taking a stand on
an obvious pseudonym is futile. I attach a copy of my letter to the Information
Commissioner setting out my concerns regarding whether these requests comply
with section 8 (1) (b) in relation to the need for an address for
correspondence. It would be particularly helpful if it could be confirmed
that the passage on the DCA web site, upon which
they rely, about accepting an e-mail address as a valid address, is simply advice to
civil servants rather than a legal ruling.