Comments on: Private individuals (and companies) are entitled to their privacy http://dofonline.co.uk/blogs/the-edge/government/hounours-34543543/ Richard Northedge takes on corporate finance Tue, 22 May 2012 06:18:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Phillip Youngman http://dofonline.co.uk/blogs/the-edge/government/hounours-34543543/#comment-52619 Phillip Youngman Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:03:01 +0000 http://dofonline.co.uk/blogs/the-edge/?p=852#comment-52619 I was an FOI Officer for 20 years. There is nothing dangerous about FOI. The danger lies in people who believe the role of government and the public service is to hide things from the general public. In the case in question, the names should have been withheld on the grounds of personal information. If there are aspects of the legislation that need to be adjusted, then that is the answer. The answer is not to remove legislation that is designed to give people the right to see how government and the public service work and make both of them accountable to the people. Phillip Youngman I was an FOI Officer for 20 years. There is nothing dangerous about FOI. The danger lies in people who believe the role of government and the public service is to hide things from the general public.

In the case in question, the names should have been withheld on the grounds of personal information. If there are aspects of the legislation that need to be adjusted, then that is the answer. The answer is not to remove legislation that is designed to give people the right to see how government and the public service work and make both of them accountable to the people.

Phillip Youngman

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