Use of third party drop boxes as a barrier to public access to Right to Know foi decisions
Verity Pane made this Freedom of Information request to Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Attn Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,
I seek copy of any document held by the OAIC concerning the use of third party drop boxes and/or other mechanisms used in lieu of giving decisions, notices or documents to addresses given for notices by foi applicants
A limited number of agencies have recently been using such third parties (like Proofpoint or Macquarie Government drop boxes) that only allow one time limited access that requires registration and collection of personal information to use. Anyone can get that information, but only once and only in a very short period, so it is not a security feature to limit access to the foi applicant.
This method prevents the foi decisions, notices or documents from being accessible here on Right to Know to the public - even when the decision or documents released contain no personal information of any person.
These are the same agencies who do not make their disclosure log accessible online and send disclosure log requests again through these third party drop boxes. So this barrier to making these foi decisions, notices or documents searchable by Right to Know and Google is only to reduce the public's ability to access government information.
The point of Right to Know is to make accessing government information easier given some agencies have intentionally made disclosure log access excessively difficult. Those small number of agencies have deployed these unethical strategies to counter that.
So in addition to the above foi application I also seek response from the OAIC what steps it is taking or intends to take to rein in this intentional use of these one use time limited drop boxes to circumvent the open access principles of Right to Know of government information.
Verity Pane
Our reference: FOIREQ22/00424
Dear Ms Pane
Freedom of Information request
I refer to your request for access to documents made under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).
You FOI request was received by the Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC) on 4 December 2022. This means that a decision on your
FOI request is currently due on 3 January 2023.
Scope of your request
Your FOI request was made in the following terms:
I seek copy of any document held by the OAIC concerning the use of third
party drop boxes and/or other mechanisms used in lieu of giving decisions,
notices or documents to addresses given for notices by foi applicants
A limited number of agencies have recently been using such third parties
(like Proofpoint or Macquarie Government drop boxes) that only allow one
time limited access that requires registration and collection of personal
information to use. Anyone can get that information, but only once and
only in a very short period, so it is not a security feature to limit
access to the foi applicant.
This method prevents the foi decisions, notices or documents from being
accessible here on Right to Know to the public - even when the decision or
documents released contain no personal information of any person.
These are the same agencies who do not make their disclosure log
accessible online and send disclosure log requests again through these
third party drop boxes. So this barrier to making these foi decisions,
notices or documents searchable by Right to Know and Google is only to
reduce the public's ability to access government information.
The point of Right to Know is to make accessing government information
easier given some agencies have intentionally made disclosure log access
excessively difficult. Those small number of agencies have deployed these
unethical strategies to counter that.
So in addition to the above foi application I also seek response from the
OAIC what steps it is taking or intends to take to rein in this
intentional use of these one use time limited drop boxes to circumvent the
open access principles of Right to Know of government information.
In order to process your request as efficiently as possible, I will
exclude duplicates and early parts of email streams that are captured in
later email streams from the scope of this request, unless you advise me
otherwise.
I will not identify you as the FOI applicant during any consultation
process. However, documents that are within the scope of your request that
the OAIC may need to consult third parties about may contain your personal
information.
Timeframes for dealing with your request
Section 15 of the FOI Act requires the OAIC to process your request no
later than 30 days after the day we receive it. However, section 15(6) of
the FOI Act allows us a further 30 days in situations where we need to
consult with third parties about certain information, such as business
documents or documents affecting their personal privacy.
The current decision due date for your request is 3 January 2023.
Disclosure Log
Documents released under the FOI Act may be published online on our
disclosure log, unless they contain personal or business information that
would be unreasonable to publish.
If you would like to discuss your FOI request, please contact me on my
contact details set out below.
Yours sincerely,
[1]O A I C logo Alessia Mercuri | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
(02) 9246 0488 |
[3][email address]
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be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
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Our reference: FOIREQ22/00424
Dear Ms Verity Pane,
Please find attached a decision of today’s date, in relation to the above
FOI Request.
Kind Regards,
[1]O A I C logo Alessia Mercuri | Lawyer
Legal Services
Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001 |
[2]oaic.gov.au
(02) 9246 0488 |
[3][email address]
[7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter | icon Information
Matters
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8:30am - 5pm Canberra
time) and delete all copies of this transmission together with any
attachments.
References
Visible links
1. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
5. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
6. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/updates/sign-up/