Information Concerning Phorm
Dear Communications Networks, Content and Technology,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
An index to/list of any documents or correspondence items you hold concerning the BT/Phorm affair in the period 2008 to January 2012 (when the infraction case against the UK Government was dropped).
There was a substantial exchange of correspondence between the Directorate General for the Information Society and Media and the UK Government at the time, leading the UK Government to face infraction proceedings.
Persons involved in the case included European Commissioner Viviane Reding, Director General Fabio Colasanti, and Kim Darroch (the UK's ambassador to the European Union), as well as the UK Government Departments for Home Office, Cabinet Office, and Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform.
The case reference was 64/08/INSO.
If you can disclose the listed documents in the same request, I would be doubly grateful.
Yours faithfully,
P John
Dear Mr John,
Thank you for your request for access to documents.
Unfortunately you have not indicated your postal address that is required
for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural
requirements. Please send us your full postal address at your earliest
convenience. Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the
registration of your request.
You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your
request:
[1]http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
Best regards,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
[2]cid:image001.gif@01D18A86.5C3DA690
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit B4 - Transparency
Dear Communications Networks, Content and Technology,
thank you for your response to my FoI request 'Information Concerning Phorm'.
In your note you ask for my home address. I am assuming - given your email is dated April 1st - this must be an obvious April Fools trick.
I have never once been asked for my home address in past FoI requests, and have no intention of providing unnecessary personal information to you.
The information requested from you relates to criminal acts by corrupt criminals. In that context, I shall not provide you with my home address.
Please provide the information requested without further obstruction.
Yours faithfully,
P. John
Dear Mr John,
With respect to your questions regarding the provision of a postal address
(copied below), please find our explanations below.
On 1 April 2014, the postal address became a mandatory feature for the
purpose of introducing a request for access to documents.
The decision to ask for a postal address from applicants for access to
documents was triggered by the following considerations:
· The need to obtain legal certainty as regards the date of
receipt of the reply by the applicant under Regulation 1049/2001. Indeed,
as foreseen by Article 297 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union (TFEU), […] decisions which specify to whom they are
addressed, shall be notified to those to whom they are addressed and shall
take effect upon such notification. Replies triggering the possibility for
administrative or judicial redress are therefore transmitted via
registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt. This requires an
indication of a valid postal address by the applicant;
· The need to direct the Commission's scarce resources first of
all to those requests which have been filed by "real" applicants. With
only a compulsory indication of an e-mail address, applicants can easily
introduce requests under an invented identity or under the identity of a
third person. Asking for a postal address helps the Commission to protect
the administration, as well as other citizens and legal persons, from
abuse;
· For similar reasons, asking for a compulsory indication of a
postal address enables the Commission services to verify whether Article
6(3) of the Regulation, on voluminous requests, is being evaded by
introducing several requests under different identities. Indeed, in its
Ryanair judgment, the General Court confirmed that Article 6(3) cannot be
evaded by splitting the application into a number of applications. The
Commission would like to point out that, in 2012/2013, it received some 57
confirmatory requests from what it suspects to be one single applicant
operating under 13 different identities;
· Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident in the sense of
Article 2(1) of Regulation 1049/2001 is a precondition for the purpose of
correctly applying the exception in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation
1049/2001 (protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual),
which has to be interpreted in accordance with Data Protection Regulation
45/2001. Article 9 of Regulation 45/2001 requires the adequacy of the
level of protection afforded by the third country or international
organisation when transmitting personal data to third-country residents or
legal persons. It follows that, in case of requests for documents which
include personal data, the correct application of the data protection
rules cannot be ensured in the absence of a postal address enabling the
Commission to ascertain that the minimum data protection standards will be
respected.
All of these considerations show that the request for and the consequent
processing of a postal address is not only appropriate but also strictly
necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest
within the meaning of Article 5 (a) of Data Protection Regulation 45/2001,
namely providing a smooth and effective access to documents.
We therefore kindly reiterate our request to you to provide a full postal
address, so we can duly register and handle your request. Please note
that, once we receive your postal address, we will register your request
for access as an initial application for access to documents in the
meaning of Article 6(1) of Regulation 1049/2001. The deadline for handling
your initial request shall run as from the moment of registration of your
request following the submission of your postal address.
Thank you in advance.
Kind regards,
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS TEAM
European Commission
Secretariat General
Unit B4 - Transparency
Dear Communications Networks, Content and Technology,
Thank you for your request for my home address
Unfortunately you have not indicated your own personal home postal address that is required for registering and handling your request in line with the procedural requirements. Please send me your own full personal home postal address at your earliest convenience.
Pending your reply, I reserve the right to refuse the registration of your request.
On 1 April 2014, the postal address became a mandatory feature for the purpose of introducing a request for access my home address.
The decision to ask for a postal address from applicants for access to my home address was triggered by the following considerations:
· The need to obtain legal certainty as regards the date of receipt of the reply by the applicant under Regulation 1049/2001. Correspondence triggering the possibility for administrative or judicial redress are therefore transmitted via registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt. This requires an indication of a valid home postal address by the applicant;
· The need to direct my scarce resources first of all to those requests for my address which have been filed by "real" applicants. With only a compulsory indication of an e-mail address, applicants can easily introduce requests under an invented identity or under the identity of a
third person. Asking for a home postal address helps my to protect myself, as well as other citizens and legal persons, from abuse;
· For similar reasons, asking for a compulsory indication of a postal address enables me to verify whether Article 6(3) of the Regulation, on voluminous requests, is being evaded by introducing several requests under different identities. I received some 1000 confirmatory requests from a bunch of market scumbags under what I suspect to be one single applicant operating under 13 different identities;
· Knowing whether the applicant is an EU resident in the sense of Article 2(1) of Regulation 1049/2001 is a precondition for the purpose of correctly applying the exception in Article 4(1)(b) of Regulation 1049/2001 (protection of the privacy and integrity of the individual), which has to be interpreted in accordance with Data Protection Regulation 45/2001. Article 9 of Regulation 45/2001 requires the adequacy of the level of protection afforded by the third country or international organisation when transmitting personal data to third-country residents or legal persons. It follows that, in case of requests for documents which include personal data, the correct application of the data protection rules cannot be ensured in the absence of a postal address enabling me to ascertain that the minimum data protection standards will be respected.
Or... you could stop being so unreasonably intrusive, obstructive, bureaucratic... and simply give me the information I requested.
Yours faithfully,
P. John