APPENDIX

CARMARTHENSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

INTERNAL APPEAL-DECISION NOTICE-EDWIN MORRIS

5^th September 2009. Does Carmarthenshire Council censor any political parties? (EM)

15 September 2009. Whilst not strictly speaking a request which falls within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (as you are not requesting any recorded information) I can respond by confirming that the Council does not censor any political parties. (JT)

15 September 2009. Are you putting any blocking type software on your library internet machines to prevent access to British political parties & their websites? (EM)

25 September 2009. The filtering software used by the Council does not prevent access to any websites because they belong to political parties. However, should any content be placed on a site which is, for example, of an offensive or obscene nature, the software could pick this up and block access to the site. I can also advise that some Council telephones have voice mail. (JT)

26 September 2009. I feel that this reply is a bit of a euphemism, access to some political parties' website is definitely being restricted. I am requesting an internal review. (JT)

21 October 2009. Whilst the Council is of course happy to correspond with you on these issues, I have to say that your enquiry is not really a freedom of information request (which only relates to requests for recorded information) and therefore I would not be treating your latest e-mail as an appeal under those provisions. You say that you have some evidence to suggest that the Council is blocking access to political party websites on its library computers. If you could therefore provide me with that evidence I will certainly consider the issue further. (LT)

31 October 2009. Surely it is recorded information since someone has instructed IT department to block political parties' website. Therefore it is perfectly valid to ask for an internal review. (EM)

10 November 2009. In your e-mail dated 5th September 2009 you asked, "Does Carmarthenshire County Council censor any political parties?" I believe that this wording amounts to a question, rather than a request for recorded information. Accordingly, we have dealt with the matter to date outside the parameters of the Freedom of Information Act, and we have told you that we do not exercise any such censorship, nor do we hold any information on the subject. However, if you feel that the Council has withheld any recorded information, necessitating an internal review, please could you specify what you consider that recorded information is? On the other hand, if you would like a discussion with someone in IT to clarify how our software works, etc then perhaps you could contact Mr Idris Evans on 01267 246326. (LT)


12 November 2009. This is pure semantics. You obviously censor political parties, please conduct an internal review as requested otherwise I shall contact the ICO. (EM)

16^th November 2009. As I have said before, it is impossible for me to conduct an internal review under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in the absence of a request for recorded information, as in this case. (LM)

18 November 2009. I see your reply as pure Orwellian double speak. I shall complain to the ICO if I do not get a reply. This request has not been answered and their will be recorded information concerning it. Are you putting any blocking type software on your library internet machines to prevent access to British political parties & their websites? (EM to LT)

24 November 2009. I refer to your email of 18th November, 2009 addressed to Mr Lyn Thomas. We are dealing with the question included in your message as a new request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. (JT)

10 December 2009. The Council does utilise software called Websense to filter web content. However, as I have advised you previously, provided any website is correctly categorised by Websense, (i.e. a political party's website is identified as such) then the system is setup to allow access. In other words, the system is not set up to prevent access to any political parties. However, there may be cases where such as site is blocked where Websense detects malicious software on a site or finds inappropriate content. I would add that the Council has not set up this software to do this. If you are aware of an instance where a political party's website has been blocked, please provide the name of the library where this took place, the date and which website was blocked. This will enable us to search our records and probably identify the incident. The only other way of establishing whether a political party's website has been blocked would be to check the hundreds of thousands of records. Under Section 12 of the Act, a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request if it considers that to do so would exceed the appropriate limit. This limit is defined in The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 as £450, which equates to 18 hours of work at the standard rate specified in the Regulations of £25.00 per hour. This would be the case here. (JT)

11 December 2009. This is a master of obfuscation. Please advise which political parties that your software blocks. Further I cannot access this website at your libraries. I am disconnected after a few seconds, why? (EM)

11 December 2009. I do not feel that there is anything further I can add on this matter. Perhaps if you were to provide your telephone number, I could arrange for an officer from our IT division to contact you to discuss any issues or concerns you have? Also, if you are unhappy with the way in which I have dealt with your request, your initial right to appeal [to Lyn Thomas]. If you remain unhappy with any subsequent decision, you have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner to rule on your complaint [contact details provided] (JT)

12 December 2009. Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews. I am writing to request an internal review of Carmarthenshire Council's handling of my FOI request 'Censorship'. Will you please answer the e mails that you have received on this web site honestly and fairly. (EM)

18 December 2009. I cannot access this website from a Carmarthenshire library website, this too appears to be censored. (EM)