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27 Jun 2008

What’s the legal basis for criticising govenment documents in the contempory UK?

My friends in Cab-in-a-Toffice have kindly invited me to a discussion about personalised services on Monday. The email warns me

The Cabinet Office computer systems may be monitored and communications carried on them recorded to secure the effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes.

and that

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal purposes.

That’s all a bit unfriendly. But I suppose I record their emails too. And so does Google for that matter. So we’re all being lawful together.

The attached paper seems innocuous enough - mostly sensible, a bit annoying, with some gaps. But there’s a dark warning at the end along with the © Crown copyright notice:

The text in this document may be reproduced free of charge in any format or media without requiring specific permission.  This is subject to the material not being used in a derogatory manner or in a misleading context.

Well, it’s not that easy to reproduce a double-columned pdf in other formats. It needs patience rather than permission.

But.....but....but what’s this about only being able to quote it for free if we desist from pointing it out if parts of it are rubbish? Do I get sent an invoice if I alert you that paragraph 127 is the most frightful drivel, or that the intro attributed to Gordon Brown is not worth reading?

I’d better tread carefully. Looking forward to Monday, anyway. I wish there was a route to London which didn’t involve going past so many expensive, anonymous and unaccountable cameras.

• Posted by William Heath on 27/06/08 at 8:11pm
• Categories · "What do we want?" · Foundation of Trust
• Comments (3)  Permalink

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