Google alerts used by DPM&C

Tqft made this Freedom of Information request to Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was refused by Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Tqft
Sent

Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,

A recent FoI request answered by yourselves, indicated that you use Google Alerts to monitor certain subjects
cf https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/c...

Could you please supply a complete list of google alerts used by your department.

This would require accessing the document at https://www.google.com.au/alerts where you can manage the alerts you receive, and copying and pasting the page.

Yours faithfully,

Tqft

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FOI, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

UNCLASSIFIED
Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email. We would appreciate the chance to discuss this email with you, as there are certain ways in which Google Alerts work that affect the processing of the email.

In the first instance, I should explain that the reference to google alerts in the decision you have accessed is not to a departmental google alerts list. Instead, when the department conducts searches under the FOI Act, google alerts contained on the email servers are assessed in the same way as all other documents.

Secondly, individual officers of the department are able to register for google alerts. Individual officers will receive the results of those alerts via the departmental email system. There is no capacity for the Department to assemble an electronic list of any google alert topics currently active with a @pmc.gov.au email address.

Further, our understanding is that any list of alerts for an account would be on the basis of the time that the account was accessed, and therefore there is no capacity to generate a retrospective list, noting that your email did not include a timeframe.

In short, at this stage, we are not aware of any capacity to produce a document containing the list you have sought.

We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this request and the issues, summarised above, that would affect managing the matter and assist you with an FOI request.

Kind Regards

FOI Adviser
Access and Administrative Review | Honours and Legal Policy Branch Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet p. +61 2 6271 5849 e. | [DPMC request email] | www.dpmc.gov.au PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Tqft [mailto:[FOI #4230 email]]
Sent: Monday, 4 December 2017 10:18 AM
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Google alerts used by DPM&C

Dear Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet,

A recent FoI request answered by yourselves, indicated that you use Google Alerts to monitor certain subjects cf https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/c...

Could you please supply a complete list of google alerts used by your department.

This would require accessing the document at https://www.google.com.au/alerts where you can manage the alerts you receive, and copying and pasting the page.

Yours faithfully,

Tqft

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FOI, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

UNCLASSIFIED

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I’m writing in relation to your FOI request with the Department of the
Prime Minister and Cabinet—reference 2017/191.

 

The due date for a decision on your request is 4 January 2018.  This date
coincides with the Department’s end of year shutdown period and the
Department will not be in a position to finalise the decision on the FOI
request before the due date.  Accordingly, we are seeking your consent to
a 30 day extension of time to the processing period, in accordance with
section 15AA of the FOI Act.  We will endeavour to notify you of the
decision prior to this extended date.

 

We request you confirm your consent to the extension by way of return
email.  If you are not inclined to agree to an extension of time, we ask
that you let us know as soon as possible so the decision-maker may
consider seeking an extension of time from the Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner, in accordance with section 15AB of the FOI Act.

 

Kind regards

 

 

FOI Adviser

Access and Administrative Review | Honours and Legal Policy Branch

Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. +61 2 6271 5849

e. | [1][DPMC request email] | [2]www.dpmc.gov.au

PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600

 

 

______________________________________________________________________

IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or
other privilege. If you are not the intended recipient of this message,
you
must not review, copy, disseminate or disclose its contents to any other
party or take action in reliance of any material contained within it. If
you
have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately
by
return email informing them of the mistake and delete all copies of the
message from your computer system.
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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[DPMC request email]
2. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/

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Tqft
Sent

Dear FOI,

"We request you confirm your consent to the extension by way of return
email."
I hereby grant you consent for a one time extension.

Yours sincerely,

Tqft

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FOI, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

6 Attachments

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I write in relation to your FOI request with the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet in the following terms:

 

‘A recent FOI request answered by yourselves, indicated that you use
Google Alerts to monitor certain subjects cf
[1]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/c...
Could you please supply a complete list of google alerts used by your
department.
This would require accessing the document at
[2]https://www.google.com.au/alerts where you can manage the alerts you
receive, and copying and pasting the page.’

 

Please find attached an access decision for your FOI request.

 

FOI Adviser

Access and Administrative Review | Honours and Legal Policy Branch

Government Division | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

p. +61 2 6271 5849

e. | [3][DPMC request email] | [4]www.dpmc.gov.au

PO Box 6500 CANBERRA ACT 2600

[5]cid:image001.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00[6]cid:image002.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00[7]cid:image003.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00 [8]cid:image004.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00

 

[9]cid:image005.jpg@01D30607.6CF4DA00

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________

IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or
other privilege. If you are not the intended recipient of this message,
you
must not review, copy, disseminate or disclose its contents to any other
party or take action in reliance of any material contained within it. If
you
have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately
by
return email informing them of the mistake and delete all copies of the
message from your computer system.
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/c...
2. https://www.google.com.au/alerts
3. mailto:[DPMC request email]
4. http://www.dpmc.gov.au/
5. https://twitter.com/pmc_gov_au
6. https://www.linkedin.com/company/departm...
7. https://twitter.com/indigenous_gov
8. https://www.facebook.com/indigenous.gov....

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Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

This request was refused under s 24A(1) of the Commonwealth FOI Act. The section says that requests can be refused when the requested documents cannot be found or do not exist. I think that on Right to Know, this refusal reason is best classified as "Agency does not have the information".

The decision was not simple so it is worth reading even though at the end no relevant document was provided.

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