By @edent · FoI money · 2 comments · 700 words · read ~888 times.
This is a bit niche! A few months ago, I received a mysterious £25 from National Savings and Investments. A prize from the Premium Bonds! Not enough to make me rich, but enough for a takeaway. Oddly, after checking their app and website, I could find no record of the win. Curious. A few days […]
Continue reading →By @edent · FoI GE2024 politics tax · 5 comments · 500 words · read ~223 times.
Freedom of Information law is brilliant! It allows ordinary people to ask questions of the powerful and get solid answers. Sometimes these questions are sensible and journalistic. Sometimes they're vexatious. Sometimes they're a little silly. The silly ones can be fun to answer. It's a good chance for a politician to show their human side. […]
Continue reading →By @edent · FoI government personal · 500 words · read ~2,965 times.
(Disclaimer - I currently work for GDS, although I don't work on FOI. This is an opinion piece and doesn't represent the views on any of my employers - past, present, or future.) The Irish government recently complied with a Freedom of Information Act request from journalists at RTÉ. The journalists wanted copies of messages […]
Continue reading →By @edent · FoI free our data parliament · 400 words · read ~251 times.
I was listening to the excellent RHLSTP - because I am one of the cool kids - when the guest, Richard Bacon, made a curious confession about his adventures bringing News Bunny to the State Opening of Parliament. I got a letter from Black Rod - who runs both houses […] and it says that […]
Continue reading →By @edent · FoI Open Data police · 650 words · read ~563 times.
The British State's desire for its citizens' private data is becoming unquenchable. As part of a minor act of disobedience, I decided to send two Freedom of Information requests. The first to the Home Secretary asking for her email metadata. The second to the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey asking for her web browsing […]
Continue reading →By @edent · FoI ODcamp Open Data · 1 comment · 550 words · read ~259 times.
One of the sessions I lead at Open Data Camp was "Open Data Horror Stories" - we talked about some of the disasters we've had when requesting or using Open Data. This lead on to a session ran by Gaia Marcus on how to create the "perfect" FOI request. This is not an exhaustive guide […]
Continue reading →By @edent · FoI vote · 300 words
As you may recall from previous instalments of my thrilling blog, I'm trying to find the location of every polling station in the UK. This is proving to be rather tricky - if not impossible. The data aren't centrally held and, in any case, polling stations aren't announced until an election is called. So I […]
Continue reading →By @edent · BTP FoI police sousveillance · 2 comments · 450 words
Following on from my encounter with the police, I decided to file a complaint against Office 4825 for refusing to show me his ID via the BTP's public complaint form. Dear Sir or Madam,Office 4825 of the British Transport Police refused to show my his ID or Warrant Card when asked. I had been stopped […]
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