>From the mySociety blog. Does anyone know if any U.S. states are obliged to reply to a FOI request that comes in via email by email? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Steven Clift" <[email protected]> Date: Jun 8, 2015 9:04 PM Subject: mySociety: Learnings from AlaveteliCon (2): the challenges are the same To: <[email protected]> Cc:
The Freedom of Information technologies conference, AlaveteliCon > <http://ift.tt/1FS7Ekt>, provided an excellent chance to share > experiences and advice. > > We heard from people who run Alaveteli <http://alaveteli.org> sites all > over the world, and we learned that many of the challenges in running FOI > sites are similar, no matter where they are. That’s great, because it means > that we can combine our knowledge and share our experience to overcome them. > > Alaveteli is designed to work anywhere. The ideal is of a website which > shows users how to make an FOI request, and sends it off to the right > recipient to get it answered, then publishes the reply, ensuring that the > information becomes truly open. But in many places, local circumstances > interrupt that process at various stages. > > Here are some of the sticking points that were brought up. We may not have > immediate solutions for all of them, but there were plenty of ideas mooted > at the conference. > > If you’d like to add some more, *please do comment on the Alaveteli > mailing list <http://ift.tt/1GlsN8p>*. It would be great to see further > discussion and ideas. > Bureaucracy > > Alaveteli, in its basic form, doesn’t cater for certain FOI processes. We > heard of cases where: > > - A small fee is payable for each FOI request; > - Making a request requires an electronic ID <http://ift.tt/1Ipytxq> > or digital signature <http://ift.tt/xBhCKf>, which most people don’t > have and which is not trivial to apply for; > - Responses are only provided by post, on paper, thus circumventing > publication online; > - Requests are not accepted by email (although this ruling has also > been turned around successfully in at least one country—Uruguay > <http://ift.tt/1IpyvW6>—and indeed it is an issue that WhatDoTheyKnow > faced in the UK <http://ift.tt/1GlsNoF>); > - Authorities will not reply to the email addresses that FOI sites > generate, because they are not “real” (ie they are not attached to the > requester’s own personal email account); > - The requester must give their name, phone number and address. This > is already a potential disincentive to making a request, but then the > response often includes them and they must be manually redacted by the site > administrator. > > Here are a few of the solutions which were mentioned: > > - Where digital signatures are required, site admins are sending off > requests on behalf of users: it’s not ideal and it takes a lot of time, but > it is doable. > - Similarly, the (non-Alaveteli) Russian FOI site RosOtvet > <http://rosotvet.ru/> passes users’ requests by a panel of lawyers, > who make sure they are correctly worded in order that they stand the best > chance of being considered. > - Frag Den Staat <http://ift.tt/vfrTes>, which is a German > non-Alaveteli FOI site, includes a function where users can scan and upload > their responses, where they’ve been provided on paper. It also allows users > to redact any parts they’d like to keep private. > - Additionally, in response to authorities complaining that their > email addresses weren’t ‘real’, Frag Den Staat set up their own email > provider called Echtemail (which translates as ‘real email’) and started > sending requests from there instead. It hasn’t changed things yet, but they > are continuing to campaign. > - In Australia, this same “not a real email address” policy was > challenged—and overcome—by a volunteer at RightToKnow.org.au > <http://ift.tt/1GlsNoH>, who got a new ruling put in place > <http://ift.tt/1Ipytxy>. > - In places where any type of email has been refused as a legitimate > channel for an FOI request, that should be challenged. There are examples > elsewhere (for example, in the UK) of requests being accepted via Twitter! > Uruguay and Australia have shown that rulings can be overturned; let’s > share experiences and see if we can do the same in other places. > - Keep highlighting the barriers and absurdities as you come across > them, on your blog, in press releases, in whatever interviews you can get. > There may be a general, unquestioned belief that your country has a > functional FOI law: if your experience says otherwise, that narrative > should be challenged. If you can position yourself as an expert on the > niceties of FOI, the press will keep returning to you—and the better known > you become, the more weight your campaigning will carry. > - …Other ideas? Let the Alaveteli mailing list <http://ift.tt/1GlsN8p> > know. > > And some solutions we don’t recommend: > > While it might be possible to add, say, a payment facility through a > bolt-on service like PayPal, it tends to be our policy not to recommend > this kind of adaptation. > > Why? Because our general advice is to run the site *as if we lived in an > ideal world*—in other words, run your Alaveteli site as though Freedom of > Information were truly open to all, at no cost and with no barriers. > > It’s the same philosophy that leads us to advocate for an ‘applicant > blind’ FOI system, where it doesn’t matter who’s making a request because > everyone has an equal right to information under the law. > > In a more extreme example, it’s also why we advise people to set up > Alaveteli sites even if there is no legal right to information in their > country. > Non-compliance > > In some places, there’s no law in place obliging authorities to respond to > requests. In others, the law exists, but it’s not very well adhered to. The > result is the same: requests get sent, but for some, no reply ever arrives. > > Clearly this is a fundamental problem in itself, but it also has a > knock-on effect for the site as a whole: people lose faith in the system if > they can see that it’s not getting results. > > This is a harder nut to crack, but here are some thoughts: > > In countries such as the UK, Croatia, and Czech Republic, there is a > system in place to pre-empt non-compliance. In our view, this is the sign > of an FOI law that is treated seriously by the authorities. > > In these countries, the right to Freedom of Information is backed up by an > independent ombudsman. Additionally, anyone who doesn’t get a response > within the statutory amount of time is entitled to seek an internal review: > that process is automatically embedded in Alaveteli, with a reminder going > out to the user if they haven’t received a reply in time. > > If you do not have such a system in your own country, the advice was to > campaign and highlight poor practices: again, this is an area where > successful campaigners should be able to share knowledge with those who > need it. > > Data about the percentage of requests that are going unanswered can make a > compelling story for the press, and also help with campaigning and > advocacy. Highlight success stories, and show the public value of FOI. > > For a great example of this, see this report from TuDerechoASaber in Spain > <http://ift.tt/1er6WuX>. Need a quick way to get at your site’s > statistics? Foie-Graphs <http://ift.tt/1IpytxA> will do just that for any > Alaveteli instance. > > If you have additional ideas, let everyone know on the Alaveteli mailing > list <http://ift.tt/1GlsN8p>. > Slippery authorities > > Henare from Open Australia <http://ift.tt/176875k> told the story of Detention > Logs <http://ift.tt/1IpytxE>, a campaign to bring transparency and > accountability to the detention of immigrants by publishing data on > conditions and events inside detention centres. > > While the authorities did not simply refuse to respond to requests for > information, they found a way to evade their duties, deciding that 85 > varied requests (pertaining to different events and detention centres all > across the country) could be counted as one. Then, having rolled them into > a single request, they were able to declare that it fell under the banner > of ‘an unreasonable amount of effort’ required to respond. > > Henare stated that one of Alaveteli’s great strengths is the fact that it > publishes out requests even if they go unanswered. That means that they > stand testament to the facts that authorities don’t want to release, as > well as those that they do. Detention Logs will persist as an archive for > the future, and maybe the situation will be turned around in more > enlightened times. > Official government sites > > We heard that in Uruguay, the government are planning to start their own > online FOI website. As it happens, mySociety has also been involved with > setting up an FOI site for the government in Panama. So it’s interesting to > ask whether there is a place for independent Alaveteli sites to exist in > tandem with the official sites. > > One thing to note is that Alaveteli was built with the user, the citizen, > always in mind. Sites built on Alaveteli make it easy and safe to file an > FOI request, while government sites are more likely to have government > needs in mind. > > For example, we don’t yet know whether the Uruguayan government site also > intends to publish requests and responses. If not, the ‘added value’ of > Uruguay’s Alaveteli site would be obvious. > But! Together we’re stronger > > Any one of these sticking points can seem like a real problem. But as well > as a software platform, Alaveteli is a community, and we can work together > to get results. > > If you need help or advice, you can always ask on the Alaveteli mailing > list <http://ift.tt/1GlsN8p>, where you will find people just waiting to > share their support. There are now 20 Alaveteli installs, each representing > a learning curve and a wealth of experience for their implementers. > Together, we have more global knowledge on FOI than perhaps any other > organisation—let’s use it! > > > > > > — > > Image: Particlem <http://ift.tt/1GlsL06> (CC <http://ift.tt/N3rZKX>) > > > from mySociety http://ift.tt/1IpyvWc > via IFTTT <http://ift.tt/1bODNcb> ―― View topic http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/2er0JuT1bIQKR3KT1vuHkp Leave group mailto:[email protected]?Subject=Unsubscribe
