back to article Info Commissioner admits 'It's going to be tough'

Information commissioner Christopher Graham says his organisation has sent out a 'shock wave' to improve FoI compliance. Admittedly the weather forecast is poor, but thunder, lightning and torrential rain accompanies GC's interview with the information commissioner at his Wilmslow offices. "Welcome to the north-west," says …

COMMENTS

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  1. Tom Chiverton 1

    Ummm

    'help "spot the next big thing before it becomes a huge problem" '

    Here's a couple of hints : IMP isn't dead, and some fool was ISPs implement a non-judicial takedown-then-notify system for 'inaccurate' web pages...

  2. The Metal Cod

    Unimpressive

    Mr Graham is supposed to be a watchdog. Watchdogs make clear threats and aren't afraid to use their teeth if the threat goes ignored. I'm sure he means well but until we see companies (Phorm, BT, TalkTalk, ACS:Law etc) and councils brought to account with a severe kicking the ICO will remain, in the eyes of many, no more threatening than my fat, castrated cat.

    Come on Chris, show us you've got 'em or my cat will be after your job.

  3. James Pickett

    Weasels

    The piece of law that says, in effect, that you can’t complain about a non-compliance after six months needs to be sorted out too. The University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit has used that already to wriggle off the ICO’s hook and parliament sits on its hands because it doesn’t want too much enquiry into anything that keeps the population alarmed and allows them to invent new taxes. IMO, of course.

    (The politicians are the weasels, BTW. CG sounds a reasonable bloke.)

  4. The Other Steve
    WTF?

    From his Wilmslow office

    Said it before, will no doubt be saying it again, I do not understand why it is there at all. Move the lot of the buggers to Whitehall where they belong and where the people who need to kicked are largely based.

    Wilmslow is an arsehole of a town almost entirely populated by twats, so it's not like they'll be suffering any culture shock if they move to the smoke.

  5. dephormation.org.uk
    FAIL

    DPA and FoI

    I've got some sympathy for the FoI team in ICO.

    But the Data Protection Racket? None what so ever.

    They are incompetent, lazy, and corrupt... a pointless sham regulator.

  6. Graham Wilson
    Grenade

    Automatically put documents on line.

    What's so secret about government administration anyway?

    As the default method of working, public servants should post all except a very limited few documents on line.

    Fewer documents, then FOI would be easier to administer.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Not even police forces bother to comply

    I can't see why the Information Commissioner thinks that anyone will take ICO enforcement seriously when some police forces don't even bother to comply.

    South Wales Police regularly fail to keep to the time-scales... my own request to them took SIX MONTHS to produce a response and the force's attitude to being reminded that the 28 days was a statutory requirement was effectively "So what?"... a statutory request for a review produced the same response.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    ICO needs to learn FAST

    While they, the ICO, sit on their backsides letting every man and his dog intercept online data illegally for advertising purposes, they are creating an enormous problem for themselves. They need to act tough and soon.

    Privacy advocates are not going to let them off the hook easily. They currently are not fit for purpose. Shame on the ICO.

  9. Rogerborg

    Agreed, the ICO is a waste of money

    It's treated with less than contempt by public bodies, who all know by now that the sequence of events for a FOI complaint is the ICO saying "Please", "Pretty please", "Pretty please or we'll cry and cry..." and then blubbering in the corner.

    If they'd actually put the boot in early on they might have been able to achieve some respect, but then again, maybe not: any fines would just get added onto tax bills eventually anyway.

    The ICO need to be given, and to use, the power to go after *individuals*, not organisations. Until then, they're part of the problem - unaccountable paper shuffling jobsworths - rather than the solution.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So cut the workforce in the public sector ..

    .... and expect FOI requests to be dealt with promptly?

    Is it me or does this mean that something else is going to suffer?

    Why not just post everything on the websites anyway?

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