FOI request \ Fishing ?

[caffrey]

We had an email here for a FOI request about our current photocopying setup

 

Is this a valid FOI Request ?

 

From this user on whatdotheyknow

 

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/user/alan_salt

 

Seems like fishing

[synaesthesia]

Regardless of the content or context, it may indeed be fishing for information and sales but it doesn't make it any less an obligation for you to comply. It would be appropriate to ensure that you blacklist his company from your email system etc for using such tactics if that's the case Edited October 15, 2018 by synaesthesia

[hardtailstar]

He likes information about printing....

 

What sort of questions has he been asking?

 

If its all about the paper, price and lease/expenditure then it could be fishing for a company.

[elsiegee40]

Regardless of the content or context, it may indeed be fishing for information and sales but it doesn't make it any less an obligation for you to comply. It would be appropriate to ensure that you blacklist his company from your email system etc for using such tactics if that's the case

 

This. It may be a fishing trip, but you are legally required to reply to a valid FoI request

 

NB An appeal this year confirmed that you must have a valid email or postal address to respond to. Requiring you to go to an unknown URL to complete a form is a security risk and you can refuse to answer on this basis.

Edited October 15, 2018 by elsiegee40

[CHiLL]

I thought FOI requests were only for personal information, requested by the individual in question? Edited October 15, 2018 by CHiLL

[FishCustard]

Regardless of the content or context, it may indeed be fishing for information and sales but it doesn't make it any less an obligation for you to comply. It would be appropriate to ensure that you blacklist his company from your email system etc for using such tactics if that's the case

 

Exactly. Seems like it wouldn't take too long to respond to - particularly if you don't have a managed print contract, in which case most answers will be "N/A". Doesn't stop you sending all his company's sales pitches to the bit bucket!

 

Abusing FOI (and if this is for lead generation, this is abuse - FOI wasn't intended for this) should be better policed - perhaps a 'requester blacklist' managed by the ICO would work.

Edited October 15, 2018 by FishCustard

[elsiegee40]

I thought FOI requests were only for personal information, requested by the individual in question?

 

It is not for the public body to judge why this person is making the request.

 

If the request is valid then it must be answered

 

The data may be made public, used in a news article or whatever after. As public bodies spending taxpayers money, maintained schools information, is not secret.

 

Just make sure you only answer the questions asked and don’t expand on them

Edited October 15, 2018 by elsiegee40

[synaesthesia]

Any we get regarding contracts that come from an individual that are traceable to a company with a professional interest in that area result in domains being added to 365's blacklist, and any public IP's banned from our firewalls, website etc.

[FishCustard]

Any we get regarding contracts that come from an individual that are traceable to a company with a professional interest in that area result in domains being added to 365's blacklist, and any public IP's banned from our firewalls, website etc.

 

Exactly my plan if we ever get any.

[IrritableTech]

I thought FOI requests were only for personal information, requested by the individual in question?

 

That would be a Subject Access Request (SAR) under GDPR. Unfortunately these terms often get mixed up both by individuals and organisations.

[Primus]

Any we get regarding contracts that come from an individual that are traceable to a company with a professional interest in that area result in domains being added to 365's blacklist, and any public IP's banned from our firewalls, website etc.

 

Have you had legal advice to confirm this is permitted? If you're actively interfering with an individual's ability to communicate an FoI request I would think that was very bad practice.

[FishCustard]

Have you had legal advice to confirm this is permitted? If you're actively interfering with an individual's ability to communicate an FoI request I would think that was very bad practice.

They would still be able to submit further requests in writing to the school, or via WhatDoTheyKnow. We block plenty of spammer domains outright (nothing to do with FOI), if blocking emails was illegal then we'd all be in jail I think. I would also only do this once the initial FOI request was handled and closed.

 

Also, any domains blocked for spam (as opposed to phishing) get the SCL set to 9, which means they end up in Junk Mail, rather than being quarantined.

Edited October 16, 2018 by FishCustard

[Primus]

They would still be able to submit further requests in writing to the school, or via WhatDoTheyKnow. We block plenty of spammer domains outright (nothing to do with FOI), if blocking emails was illegal then we'd all be in jail I think. I would also only do this once the initial FOI request was handled and closed.

 

Also, any domains blocked for spam (as opposed to phishing) get the SCL set to 9, which means they end up in Junk Mail, rather than being quarantined.

 

If the reason you have blocked them is down to them submitting FoI requests then I think that's very different to being blocked for spamming etc.

 

Perhaps you should have an account for FoI requests that is not subject to any spam filtering.

[enjay]

Those FOI requests annoy me, as I don't think info-gathering for a sales pitch is what was intended when the FOIA was introduced. Some of the questions could be someone researching something to see if schools are managing printing in a cost-effective way, which I think is within the spirit of the FOIA, however the questions about contract end dates, especially q15, make me think it is a sales company pre-amble.