[LINK] FOI denied: $1mil charge to restore backup

[Jan Whitaker]

[this is just funny; 
http://www.theage.com.au/it-pro/government-it/age-defeated-over-1m-foi-request-20120919-2672p.html 
]


Age defeated over '$1m' FOI request

Melissa Fyfe
Published: September 20, 2012 - 3:00AM

The Age has lost a freedom of information battle against a state 
government body that claimed it would take 24 years and cost nearly 
$1 million to process two requests.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has accepted the 
evidence of CenITex, the government's centre for information 
technology excellence, that The Age's FOI requests would divert ''a 
substantial and unreasonable portion'' of CenITex's resources away 
from its other operations.

VCAT deputy president Heather Lambrick found CenITex 
<http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/24-years-1m-cost-for-foi-request-20120819-24git.html?rand=1348098779445>had 
not exaggerated the estimate of time and resources but she questioned 
several aspects of its response.

CenITex had said it would have to restore all emails within the time 
frame of the requests, which related to complaints about CenITex 
contractors, the electronic diaries of key executives, customer 
feedback results and CenITex's gift and hospitality register.

To restore the emails, the agency said it had to buy extra computer 
equipment. CenITex's position is unusual in the Victorian government 
- most departments and agencies have easily searchable email archives 
and do not require an expensive restoration of archives to meet FOI requests.

Ms Lambrick said she found it ''surprising'' that the government's 
centre for information and technology excellence ''would not have the 
sufficient equipment for this request to be processed''. CenITex's 
estimate of one hour to restore each encrypted email was, she said, 
''staggering''.

She said The Age had never accepted CenITex's explanations for why it 
considered the scope of the request too large and had ''preferred to 
adopt a cynical approach expressing disbelief and incredulity''.



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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