Government’s Media Monitoring Unit Monitors Blogs
DIZZY asks: “What should I ask the blog monitors next?”
Back in August, Iain Dale noticed an Financial Times report that said the Government’s Central Office of Information was setting up a blog monitoring team. Being ever so curious about the veracity of it all I decided to send a Freedom of Information request saying,
Please provide copies of briefing summaries for the past three months made by the COI Media Monitoring Unit which reference the political blog iaindale.blogspot.com (Iain Dale)
I also sent one requesting copies of breifing summaries referencing Guido as well. For pure vanity reasons I asked about myself as well as I needed to have my ego shattered. However the CoI hasn’t provided any meaningful information in response, they said,
I am writing to advise you that the Department has decided not to disclose the information you requested on 25th October 2007.
The Media Monitoring Unit does not normally monitor blogs. Any extracts from blogs that may from time to time be picked up are already freely available in the public domain, and as a result are exempt from disclosure under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act - Information accessible by other means.
Great response huh? They’ve rather cleverly exploited a whole in my question and assumed that I want the content of what might have come from a blog rather than simply wanting to know when blogs might have been included in summaries. Guess I should change the question, any suggestions greatly welcomed.
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Probably means they’ve got a lot to hide!
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:18 am
Maybe they’re planning their next spin to be through blogs. Expect a big fat check in the mail; or more likely to have to undergo personal interrogation by Clarence. (Yuk)
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:35 am
Most likely is that they are saying “we don’t have to tell you anything about our activities as this information is in the public domain… so get stuffed” As is most likely the case with any blog - because they are public domain sites - they are not bound by the Freedom of Information Act.
Pretty interesting point really - considering that most people view information on Blogs as their own work, and therefore their property.
It seems this means that any govt. agency can come and view your content, just like any member of the global public, without needing to disclose that they have seen it, or indeed what they do with it from that point on. I wonder if this applies if you state that your blog content is copyright to you.
I wonder if this is different for a members only type site?
It seems Big Brother is always watching……
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:40 am
you could always ask:
“Please provide copies of instances where summaries of, content from, or references to the political blog iaindale.blogspot.com (Iain Dale) have been used by the COI Media Monitoring Unit.”
The COI Media Monitoring Unit itself and it’s internal documents are bound by the Freedom of Information Act, so you should have more luck there.