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Originally Posted by SelfProtection
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Now that is timely. The article focusses on the DBERR, formerly the Department of Twiddling and Inaction/Trade and Industry. Our friends that are coming under fire from their noble Lords, the Baroness Miller and Lord Northesk. Let's hit them from the citizenry end too with FOI requests.
Good to see a ruling from the Tribunal forcing them to come clean about who lobbies them and how, and who they talk to and when etc. That is very good news for us. If Phorm is just about commercial advantage, then the DBERR can't really refuse to divulge any lobbying or conversations about the system. So the only grounds for refusal to divulge contacts between DBERR and Phorm will have to be more substantial. Which will tell us a lot.
The FOI focus needs now to focus on DBERR and what they did and didn't know about Phorm, and who they did and didn't talk to about Phorm and when.
With this ruling in the bag, the FOI requests should be fairly straightforward to get answers to.
Remember that these systems like ICO and FOI are effectively risk free for the citizen, and enforced without us worrying about legal fees/court cases. So we USE it.
And for once - the Tribunal appears to have put it's teeth in after getting out of bed.
So - what questions should we be asking of the DBERR? I imagine that we could take the Lord's questions as a guide.
I'm certainly willing to put in the FOI requests if people can advise on content and if anyone who has done FOI before can advise me on how to do it and about the fee etc..