WRITTEN ON September 24th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Foundation of Trust, What do we want?

Ho Moffiss, the tribe which is too scared to debate its ID plans with the eminently reasonable and none-too-scary Phil Booth, shows its commitment to freedom of informtion in its reply to Open Rights Groups enquiry about the absurd, disproportionate, grotesquely expensive Intercept Modernisation Programme (IMP) which is grinding on without any public debate or legislative cover:

We are currently assessing the public interest in saying whether or not we hold the information you have requested, and should we do so, in providing the information you have requested. We are doing so under the exemptions contained in Sections 23(5) and 24(2) (national security), 35(3) (formulation of government policy, 31(3) (prevention and detection of crime) and 43(3) (prejudice to commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information Act. This letter should not be taken as conclusive evidence that the information you have requested exists or does not exist.

Hey! Ho! Freedom not Fear, remember? Stop being weird and secretive with generally law-abiding taxpayers (Section 25.7: hiding behind curtains of bureaucratic obfuscation; Section 28.6 Appearing confused and ashamed of what you’re doing with public money; Section 31.3: pissing people off; Section 100.0: losing popular consent and pushing the country towards ungovernability)!