Twitter bots: FOIA

The request was partially successful.

Dear Electoral Commission,

This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act. Please note there are two parts to this request.

1) From 01 August 2017 to the day this request is processed, I would like all electronic correspondence and communications that contains the keyword “Twitter bot”.

2) From 01 August 2017 to the day this request is processed, I would like all electronic correspondence and communications that contains the keyword “Twitter bots”.

By ‘electronic correspondence and communications’, I define this as including, but not limited to, emails and their attachments, as well as PDF documents.

I would like to receive this information in an electronic format. If you feel that a substantive response to this request is not possible within a reasonable time frame, I would be grateful if you could contact me and provide assistance as to how I can refine the request. If you need any clarification, please contact me. I look forward to receiving a response in 20 working days. Many thanks.

Lucas Amin

FOI, Electoral Commission

Dear Mr Amin,

 

Our Ref: FOI 170/17

 

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act dated 30
October 2017 concerning:

 

1) From 01 August 2017 to the day this request is processed, I would like
all electronic correspondence and communications that contains the keyword
“Twitter bot”.

 

2) From 01 August 2017 to the day this request is processed, I would like
all electronic correspondence and communications that contains the keyword
“Twitter bots”.

 

By ‘electronic correspondence and communications’, I define this as
including, but not limited to, emails and their attachments, as well as
PDF documents. 

 

 

The Commission aims to respond to requests for information promptly and
within the statutory timeframe of twenty working days.

 

You may expect to receive a reply sent from the Commission by 27 November
2017.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Humayra Siddika

Information Management Adviser

The Electoral Commission

3 Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8YZ

[1]electoralcommission.org.uk

[2]yourvotematters.co.uk

 

[3]Twitter | [4]Facebook | [5]Blog

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/
2. https://www.yourvotematters.co.uk/
3. https://twitter.com/ElectoralCommUK
4. https://www.facebook.com/electoralcommis...
5. http://ukelectoralcommission.wordpress.c...

FOI, Electoral Commission

13 Attachments

Dear Mr Amin,

 

Our Ref: FOI 170/17

 

Thank you for your email to the Electoral Commission dated 30 October
2017.

 

The Commission aims to respond to requests for information promptly and
has done so within the statutory timeframe of twenty working days.

 

Your request is in bold below followed by our response.

 

1) From 01 August 2017 to the day this request is processed, I would like
all electronic correspondence and communications that contains the keyword
“Twitter bot”.

 

2) From 01 August 2017 to the day this request is processed, I would like
all electronic correspondence and communications that contains the keyword
“Twitter bots”.

 

By ‘electronic correspondence and communications’, I define this as
including, but not limited to, emails and their attachments, as well as
PDF documents. 

 

Our response is as follows:

 

We hold the information you have requested, which can be found in the
attached document. I trust that this information satisfies your request.
The Commission strives to be an open, transparent authority.

 

You may also be interested in a recent blog Bob Posner, the Electoral
Commission’s Director of Political Finance and Regulation & Legal Counsel,
wrote about responding to the rise of digital campaigning:
[1]https://ukelectoralcommission.wordpress....

If you are not satisfied with this response, please note that the
Commission operates a review procedure, details of which can be found on
the Commission website at:
[2]http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ab...

Please also note that if you have exhausted all internal Commission review
procedures and you are still not satisfied you have the right to appeal to
the Information Commissioner. Details of this procedure can be found on
the ICO website: [3]https://ico.org.uk/

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Ben Wilkinson

Head of External Communications

 

References

Visible links
1. https://ukelectoralcommission.wordpress....
2. http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ab...
3. https://ico.org.uk/

Dear Sir or Madam

Thanks for your response. I'm writing to confirm whether you have sent all of the documents you intended to.

There are numerous redactions in the documents you provided but I can't seem to find a description of the exemptions you have applied. Could you kindly confirm, with reference to each documents, which exemptions you are using to redact the withheld information?

Please also explain, where applicable and in line with the guiding principles of the Information Tribunal, how the public interest would, or would be likely, to be materially prejudiced by disclosure.

Yours sincerely,

Lucas Amin

FOI, Electoral Commission

Dear Mr Amin,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

In answer to your first question, all 13 documents that were intended to
be sent, were attached to the email sent to you on 14 November 2017.

 

In reference to the queries following, I will be liaising with the team
that formulated this response and get back to you with more information.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Humayra Siddika

Information Management Adviser

The Electoral Commission

3 Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8YZ

[1]electoralcommission.org.uk

[2]yourvotematters.co.uk

 

[3]Twitter | [4]Facebook | [5]Blog

 

 

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Thanks Humayra

When will you be able to respond?

Yours sincerely,

Lucas

FOI, Electoral Commission

Dear Lucas Amin,

Thank you for your questions related to the redactions applied to the information that the Commission released to you as a result of your FOI request about Twitter bots.

The Commission in this instance did not provide our usual level of information in our covering email, and for this we apologise. I have spoken to the team that prepared the documents and correspondence for release. The only sections of text that were redacted prior to release are those that do not relate to your question so the information has been redacted. The Commission considers that all of the information that is related to your question has been made available to you in these documents.

Section 40(2) and (3)(a)(i) exemptions of the FOI Act have been applied to these documents. Section 40 (2) provides for an exemption where the information requested constitutes personal data, some of which is sensitive personal data, as defined by the Data Protection Act (DPA), and where release of the information requested would breach one of the data protection principles. Some of the information we hold within the description of personal data as defined by section 1 of the DPA because the information relates directly to an identifiable living individual. This includes the email addresses of junior staff within the Commission that information is not generally available. The Commission does release the email addresses of Senior Managers under FOIA. This is an absolute exemption.

I hope that this explanation helps you to understand the redactions that have been applied to the information that the Commission has released. If you are unhappy with our response you can a request and Internal Review as laid down in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by replying to this email.

Yours sincerely,

Ashley

Ashley Lardner
Information, Knowledge and Systems Manager
The Electoral Commission
3 Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8YZ
[Electoral Commission request email]
electoralcommission.org.uk
yourvotematters.co.uk

Twitter | Facebook | Blog

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