Data regulator tried to ’bury’ its own report

The UK watchdog that upholds information rights in the public interest and promotes data openness inside British organisations sought to “bury” its own report in a pile of extraneous press releases.

Issuing this charge, Privacy International yesterday said the Information Commissioner’s Office tried to “deliberately cover up” a failure in June to uphold its duty of enforcing the Data Protection Act.

The conspiracy came after PI’s complaint about a website that let the public monitor commercial CCTV cameras online was rejected by the office, implying such a service was not an invasion of privacy.

In order to understand the ICO’s rationale, and why it only issued the website with an undertaking of good behaviour, PI requested and obtained officials’ emails under the Freedom of Information Act.

They show senior staff exchanging strategies for ‘spinning’ the story, so their decision-making process would be reported favourably, with one official even suggesting the ICO “bury” it among other media announcements.

“The ICO may not wish this release to stand out from the crowd,” the email considers. “Maybe it world [sic] be better… to ‘bury’ it amongst others?”

Reflecting on the disclosure, PI’s director Simon Davies, who has been a long-standing critic of the ICO, said the need for reforming the office was now “urgent.”

“We have criticised the Information Commissioner’s Office for many years over its failure to uphold privacy rights in the UK but this episode has cast a more sinister and disturbing light on the activities of the regulator.

“It is clear that the office is now incapable of fulfilling its statutory responsibilities and that it has become a danger both to openness and to privacy.”

PI claims it broached these concerns to the ICO in August but, having yet to receive a response, now wants an inquiry into the office’s activity, believing the regulator is no longer “fit for purpose.”