Legal News
| [23 Oct 07] :: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION? |
| Britains latest right to know laws are being undermined by a huge backlog of thousands of complaints brought by dissatisfied members of public, some of which are apparently taking up to two years to clear. Many government offices or departments have refused to disclose documents concerning ministers meetings or other sensitive or embarrassing correspondence passing within Whitehall. The Information Commissioner, who has the power to order Public Bodies and ministers to disclose this information, has been forced to write to members of the public to apologise that their complaints have not yet been allocated a case officer. The Commissioner has described the substantial backlog which has built up since the Freedom of Information Act went live in January 2005. Of 5,000 complaints received by the watchdog, almost 1,400 have yet to be resolved and include over 600 still awaiting allocation to an officer. Recent figures suggest that 19 of the most complex and controversial cases relate to requests for sensitive information made over two years ago. A further 50 are more than a year old. Last year, the total list of unresolved complaints stood at over 1,200. Campaigners are increasingly concerned that by the time these complaints are resolved, the information requested will already be out of date or of little ongoing interest to the applicant who originally requested it. "In some cases the information will be too late to be useful, which is potentially serious for the legislation, because it may put people off using the Act," said Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information. Some suspect that ministers have realised that it is an effective way to thwart attempts to expose politically embarrassing facts about the Government. "The Information Commissioner simply doesnt have the resources to handle the growing list of complaints, so that this backlog has developed. Its a shame, because the decisions being made are mostly very positive and are leading to increased disclosure." MPs say that by deliberately depriving the Information Commissioner of funds, the Government is helping to sidestep troublesome requests that it might otherwise have to comply with when the Information Commissioner finally rules on them. The serious lack of funds has forced Mr Thomas to prioritise his resources so that simpler cases are settled as quickly as possible while the more difficult requests, usually relating to government departments, are put on the difficult list where they wait a longer time to be resolved. Ministers are still debating whether to bring in measures designed to restrict access to information under the new law by bringing in rules that will allow public bodies to refuse certain requests on financial or other grounds. |
| [15 Oct 07] :: EMAIL SECURITY |
| Businesses are using email to send sensitive and confidential information even though they are aware that it is one of the most unsecure ways of sending information, according to a recent study. The research also found that less than 10% of businesses are currently encrypting their email, despite being aware that emails often go through numerous servers and locations before reaching their final recipient. Solicitors were found to be among the worst culprits. A survey of over 200 UK law firms said that half of those questioned thought their existing network implemented email confidentiality when it did not. Participants also said more than 50% of emails sent contained some form of confidential or sensitive information. Experts said that this lack of security, particularly for solicitors, exposes a business to unnecessary risk, including privacy breaches and theft. Greg Day, a security consultant with internet security firm McAfee, said that the threat associated with typing confidential or personal information in open e-mails is serious and very real. Some solicitors acknowledged that law firms foresee real problems in using email encryption, primarily because of the hassle in getting recipients to open encrypted emails. However, most acknowledged that the problem was fundamentally about user education. Clients of Tenerife Solicitors will be pleased to note that we use a Datamail email encryption system, and all clients are invited to participate when communicating by email. |
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