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29 Sep 2011
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has been accused of attempting to "bury" the results of an ICO enquiry into surveillance firm Internet Eyes, after emails revealed that staff considered releasing the information on a busy news day.
Internet Eyes had been under investigation after a complaint by online rights group Privacy International over the fact its system of streaming live CCTV images to members of the public for the purposes of spotting criminal behaviour could make citizens identifiable.
Emails obtained by Privacy International (PDF) under the Freedom of Information Act found that staff at the ICO talked about choosing a busy news day to release the Internet Eyes findings to minimise its exposure in the press.
Diane Slater, lead case officer at the ICO, suggested taking this approach knowing that Privacy International would be critical of the decision.
"It occurred to us that the ICO may not wish this release to stand out from the crowd. Maybe it would be better to send the letter today and publish Wednesday or Thursday this week to bury it among others," she said, according to the emails.
ICO press officer Kirsty McCaskill agreed that the watchdog "would ideally not want this to attract much publicity", but noted that it would not be an "easy task" as Privacy International was the complainant.
The information was finally released on 14 June, the same day that health secretary Andrew Lansley made a statement to the House of Commons announcing a U-turn in the government's NHS strategy.
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The Ministry of Truth lives on in parts of the ICO
After having several instances of making complaints to the ICO in regard to Data Protection issues it has left me with the distinct disturbing feeling that this side of their business led by Paul Arnold is either in compete disarray with little understanding of their responsibilities under the Act or they are deliberately refusing to properly process complaints made to them. This is completely the opposite in my experience of the other-side of their business which is the Freedom of Information Act which by and large except for a few odd discrepancies appears to be working as expected in a satisfactory condition. I know of one particular case in which Mr Paul Arnold has refused to process a complaint from and ex mayor who is also an ex police officer simply because he tagged his Emails sent to the ICO in order to know where they were being sent to. Interestingly some of his Emails were sent to and via the USA. This is particularly worrying because if the ICO do not want the sender of an Email to know where the ICO has sent it on to and are prepared as Mr Arnold has done, to refuse to deal in any way with the original complaint until the complainant promises not to tag his own Emails. It's looking as though the Ministry of Truth lives on in the darker dungeons of outer Wilmslow for now at least.
Posted by: John Greenwood 01 Oct 2011
No Surorises
Has the ICO become the government's gatekeeper and shield rather than champion of openness ? What say you ?
Posted by: nemesis 01 Oct 2011
Useless article
This article would have been of more use if it had given some indication as to what this complaint was about. Who are "Internet Eyes" and "Privacy International"?
Posted by: superbike999 30 Sep 2011