Whatdotheyknow – is Market Hill a one-way Street?

There is a hidden reason behind this post which I will reveal in a few days…
The MySociety group has created sensational software and practices for enhancing government both frmally and informally. Visit them:

Hello! We are mySociety – we run most of the UK’s best known democracy websites.

Using our services, 200,000 people have written to their MP for the first time, over 8,000 potholes and other broken things have been fixed, nearly 9,000,000 signatures have been left on petitions to the Prime Minister, and at least 77 tiny hats have been knitted for charity.
There’s a large Cambridge representation and members are often to be found at Citizen Pollock’s CB2 extravaganzas.
Here’s “WhatDoTheyKnow?”  – a site which allows anyone to ask questions under the Freedom Of Information (FOI) act.  Yes, although it doesn’t look like it, the UK has an FOI act. It’s fairly toothless when you want to know where the WOMD are, why we invaded Iraq, etc. but it applies to most (?all) public institutios, including Universities. These orgs have to have a FOI officer who has to respond to questions from anyone in a fixed period. Suppose you want to know whether Market Hill in Cambridge is a one-way streeet. (BTW I often cycle along it and, yes, it’s dead flat – A hill in Cambridge is anything about 1 metre above the river.) Here’s how it works:

• You go to WDTK and select the organization you want to write to. The great thing is that WDTK has already got a list of many of the FOIO’s so there is a very good chance you will be writing to the correct person
• WDTK filters the requests (i.e. no abuse, spam, etc.) and formats them in a consistent way. So there is a simple statement of the request. This is posted publicly so the whole world knows the request has been made
• WDTK start the clock ticking. The FOIO has 28 days to conform to the law – yes it’s the law.
• The FOIO replies and WDTK format and post the reply. The replies are mainly but not always born-digital. Paper and ePaper get posted as PDF.
• The requester may accept the reply or may ask for clarification, in which case all this is posted.

So it benefits everyone. I now know that I can’t cycle up MH in one direction (bummer – I though cyclists could, so I’ll have to walk). I don’t have to bother the council or it FOIO so they do their job more efficiently.
Sometimes the FOI doesn’t reply, in which case they get a red clock. In which case the requester can chase them and point out they are breaking the LAW.
Sometimes a FOI replies that they do not have the information. That is often true, but often contentious. There has been a request  (see University of Cambridge ) for information for traffic to a given IP address on the University network. The University has said it doesn’t hold the info. I’m fascinated to find the storty behind this. Anyway it’s all public. There have also been requests on employment policy, investment in Icelandic banks and Scientology.
It’s a great idea – simple to explain – highly useful. It costs money to run, but compared with most projects is amazing.
Oh, some bodies are exempt. Mainly government departments with something to hide. You have to go to the US FOI to find that info.
Oh, and Tony Blair, as a de facto god,  has always been exempt.