Game-playing twit
Our military is trying to rebuild a country, and Attaran's playing games with frivolous requests:
An open and transparent government is an important thing, but one day I'd like to see an accounting of the man-hours and other costs within DND of complying with ATI requests. If ever there was a better example of someone who didn't know how to keep the main thing the main thing, it's the law professor from Ottawa.
The University of Ottawa law professor who battled the Defence Department over access to information about Afghan war prisoners last year is in another fight over a "test" request he filed -- seeking photos of the prisoners with only their "hairdos" showing.
The military turned the request down on national security and privacy grounds.
...
Mr. Attaran, who is also a lawyer, says he filed requests under the Access to Information Act for the photos and the list of grooming items -- including "hair scrunchies" and cosmetics -- to test how far the military would go in keeping information secret.
An open and transparent government is an important thing, but one day I'd like to see an accounting of the man-hours and other costs within DND of complying with ATI requests. If ever there was a better example of someone who didn't know how to keep the main thing the main thing, it's the law professor from Ottawa.
posted by Babbling Brooks at 10:05 a.m.
2 Comments:
In Ontario, Ministries can send a bill to Freedom of Information requesters if the request consumed a significant amount of resources. For example, they can charge a few cents per page for photocopying, and various rates (I think $10-$40/hour) for labour and technical expertise needed to assemble the response.
Before the bill can be sent, however, the Ministry is required to notify the requester as to the extent of any "exemptions" (censorship) of the requested material. That letter will also include an estimate of fees. The requester then has the option to abandon the request if they feel it isn't going to be worth the cost.
My guess is that Attaran has submitted his request, gotten the exemption notification letter, and gone public with that. That way, he can make his point about secrecy without actually incurring any costs.
I'd like to see an accounting of the man-hours and other costs within DND of complying with ATI requests.
Yes, well, holding government agencies transparent and accountable to their citizens is expensive, but the other way works much, much more poorly.
Wasn't this government supposed to be the Most Accountable Ever?
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