Access to Information officer questions #

I just got here from the bottom of an access to information request, what is going on? #

AccessInfoHongKong is a community project. It helps members of the public make requests under Hong Kong's Code on Access to Information, and easily track and share the responses.

The request you received was made by someone using AccessInfoHongKong. You can simply reply to it as you would any other access to information request from an individual. The only difference is that your response will be automatically published on the Internet.

If you have privacy or other concerns, please read the answers below. You might also like to read the introduction to AccessInfoHongKong to find out more about what the site does from the point of view of a user. You can also search the site to find your department and view the status of any requests made using the site.

Finally, we welcome comments and thoughts from access to information officers, please get in touch.

Why are you publishing responses to access to information requests? #

We think there are lots of benefits. Most importantly it encourages the public to be more interested and involved in the work of government. We also hope it reduces the number of duplicate requests on any subject that a department will receive. Information released under the Code on Access to Information is public information, which anybody could easily request again, so we think there should be no reason not to publish it widely.

Are the people making requests real people? #

Yes. For the purposes of keeping track of responses we use computer-generated email addresses for each request. However, before they can send a request, each user must register on the site with a unique email address that we then verify. You can search this site and find a page listing all requests that each person has made.

An email isn't a sufficient address for an access to information request! #

Yes it is. The Code on Access to Information does not require requests to be made on paper or to include a postal address. An email containing the requester's name and a description of the information sought is a valid request. If you would prefer to send a paper response, the requester can supply a postal address on request.

Aren't you making lots of vexatious requests? #

AccessInfoHongKong is not making any requests. We are sending requests on behalf of our users, who are real people making the requests.

Look at it like this — if lots of different people made requests from different Gmail addresses, then you would not think that Google were making vexatious requests. It is exactly the same if lots of requests are made via AccessInfoHongKong. Moreover, since all requests are public, it is much easier for you to see whether any individual user is making vexatious requests.

I can see a request on AccessInfoHongKong, but we never got it by email!#

If a request appears on the site, then we have attempted to send it to the department by email. Any delivery failure messages will automatically appear on the site. You can check the address we're using with the "View request email address" link which appears on the page for the department. Contact us if there is a better address we can use.

Requests are sometimes not delivered because they are quietly removed by spam filters in the IT department. Departments can make sure this doesn't happen by asking their IT teams to "whitelist" any email from @mail.accessinfo.hk. If you ask us we will resend any request, and/or give technical details of delivery so an IT team can chase up what happened to the message.

Finally, you can respond to any request from your web browser, without needing any email, using the "respond to request" link at the bottom of each request page.

How do you calculate the deadline shown on request pages?#

The Code on Access to Information sets out the following timelines, measured in calendar days:

• 10 calendar days for an initial response — either the information itself, or an interim reply explaining why more time is needed.
• 21 calendar days as the target time for providing the information.
• 51 calendar days as the maximum time, in exceptional circumstances, with the department explaining why an extension is needed.

If you have a good reason why a request is going to take a while to process, requesters find it really helpful if you can send a quick email with a sentence or two saying what is happening.

Access to information officers often have to do a lot of hard work to answer requests, and this is hidden from the public. We think it would help everyone to have more of that complexity visible.

But really, how do you calculate the deadline?#

Please read the answer to the previous question first. Under the Code, departments should respond within the timeframes set out above. If you cannot, it helps to explain what you are doing to gather the information.

That said, AccessInfoHongKong shows the 21-day target deadline on each request page, with a note when a request reaches the 51-day maximum. Days are counted from when the request email was delivered.

Requesters are encouraged to mark when they have clarified their request so the clock resets, but sometimes they get this wrong. If you see a problem with a particular request, let us know and we'll fix it.

The dates shown on each request reflect the Code's 10/21/51 calendar-day framework.

How can I send a large file, which won't go by email?#

Instead of email, you can respond to a request directly from your web browser, including uploading a file. To do this, choose "respond to request" at the bottom of the request's page. Contact us if it is too big for even that (more than, say, 50Mb).

Why do you publish the names of officers and the text of emails? #

We consider what officers do in the course of their employment to be public information. We will only remove content in exceptional circumstances; see our take down policy.

Do you publish email addresses or mobile phone numbers? #

To prevent spam, we automatically remove most emails and some mobile numbers from responses to requests. Please contact us if we've missed one. For technical reasons we don't always remove them from attachments, such as certain PDFs.

If you need to know what an address was that we've removed, please get in touch with us. Occasionally, an email address forms an important part of a response and we will post it up in an obscured form in an annotation.

What is your policy on copyright of documents?#

The Code on Access to Information is "applicant blind", so anyone can request the same document and get a copy of it. If you think our making a document available on the internet infringes your copyright, you may contact us and ask us to take it down. However, to save public money by preventing duplicate requests, and for good public relations, we'd advise you not to do that.

My response to an old request on AccessInfoHongKong has been bounced!#

After six months of inactivity, AccessInfoHongKong limits who can respond to a request to stop spammers targeting old requests. At that point, the request can only be responded to by someone who's from the department. After twelve months, the request is closed to responses from anyone. If you need an old request to be re-opened so that you can respond to it, please contact us.

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