21 January - Freedom to Obfuscate?
Bexley Council replied to
my Freedom of Information request about web addresses that are black listed on its
servers well within the statutory timetable. A list of banned addresses and the
categories into which they fall was provided and on the surface at least the
information given was unremarkable; but it failed to answer the direct question. Is BiB still banned?
It was banned in 2011 when a
similar FOI provided the details and presumably nothing had changed by 2018 when a
Councillor sent a complaint to the police about this website and cited the ban
as evidence that I was a thoroughly bad boy.
I suppose the easiest way to get an honest answer is to ask a friendly Councillor
or wander into a library. Maybe an FOI requesting the approximate date that the
Bonkers ban was lifted would be justified and if it hasn’t been a complaint to
the Information Commissioner? Dishonestly responding to an FOI request is a serious matter.