Thursday
Dec152011
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill On Her Majesty's public service
Dec 15, 2011 FOI Civil servants to be forced to publish Gmail emails
Civil servants have been warned that using private email accounts for official business in an effort to dodge Freedom of Information Act requests is a criminal offence.
...The statement [by the Information Commissioner] has reportedly worried many civil servants, many of whom communicate more informally using private webmail accounts believing they were exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Campaigners have claimed Gmail and other services are used to conduct official business without public scrutiny.
I wonder how the ICO views reports of the IPCC setting up back-channel communication networks?
Reader Comments (11)
A search for "gmail" in the climategate emails throws up 126 hits.
Well since the IPCC conducts official business on the behalf of client governments and takes official contributions from government scientists and government funded scientists as authors and reviewers means that any attempt to escape FOI legislation by setting up communication back-channels is a criminal offence in the UK.
Why, one has to ask oneself, would the IPCC be sending e-mails or g-mails which are other than completely transparent and available to all via the FOI..?
You don't think that there's skulduggery going on, do you..??
I've not heard of any "back-channels" being set up by IPCC.
What back-channel communication networks?
Info on IPCC back-channel
Well, Prof Jones, how do you like those apples?
If this results in capturing the real culprits in this horrendous scam, than bring it on. I want to see real people brought into the light of publicity and subjected to a condign punishment. Mr Jones, that means you.
It's a drag, but any halfway tech-savvy individual could find a way round this, just as fraudsters all round the world do.
Use a dodgy free e-mail provider, of which there are plenty, hide behind a proxy server, and nobody will be able to ever get to see the mails, let alone try to pin them on you. Especially nervous types can use codenames such as Annie X. Scuse or C Niall de Mentia.
It's a drag, but any halfway tech-savvy individual could find a way round this, just as fraudsters all round the world do.
Use a dodgy free e-mail provider, of which there are plenty, hide behind a proxy server, and nobody will be able to ever get to see the mails.
No, that won't do.
First, if you want to have a conversation with someone, you have to say who you are. You can't carry on business with everyone staying anonymous. A proxy server is useless if you have to give your name at the top of every item!
Then, having identified your carefully anonymous account, you rely on the person at the other end keeping the conversation anonymous. That's a stupid risk. There is such a thing as being too clever, and forgetting the obvious. (Like that a g-mail account is not remotely safe and that people will do stupid things like forward a copy to their home account to remind them.)
Moreover, as a person with multiple e-mail accounts, I can say what a pain it is. You are asking these people to have a personal one, a work one, and a secret work one – then keep them all straight.
People will fall back to the old standby – not committing anything to paper that they do not want in the open. All that has happened recently is that people have not realised that e-mail is effectively paper.
They obviously have not checked with that world legal authority, the IPCC.
I am certain that Mann, Jones, & gang will point out how being sciencey guys and all, they are above this mundane stuff and order us to do penance for daring disturb their most urgent world saving thinkology by way of a nice fat offering of money.