Re:The City of Seattle Accidentally Gave Me 32M Emails for $40
by btrettel on Sunday October 21, 2018 @11:04AM
(#18268315)
I have filed both US and UK FIO requests. (But I am not a lawyer.)
I think you are right in the UK. The US law is different and seems to allow this sort of broad request. I have been told before when filing in the US that others may request my contact information, and I have seen lists of FOIA requests received via the FOIA including contact information for requesters.
In the UK, requests need to be fairly narrow as I recall. And the time frames in which the request will be processed also are narrow: 20 business days as I recall. If it would take longer than that you probably would be asked to narrow the request. This is good for me as I typically request individual documents, not huge swarths of data. I requested a classified UK technical report and received a redacted copy within a month as I recall. Much faster than in the US.
I think you are right in the UK. The US law is different and seems to allow this sort of broad request. I have been told before when filing in the US that others may request my contact information, and I have seen lists of FOIA requests received via the FOIA including contact information for requesters.
In the UK, requests need to be fairly narrow as I recall. And the time frames in which the request will be processed also are narrow: 20 business days as I recall. If it would take longer than that you probably would be asked to narrow the request. This is good for me as I typically request individual documents, not huge swarths of data. I requested a classified UK technical report and received a redacted copy within a month as I recall. Much faster than in the US.