Exploring the implementation blind spots

Abstract

The right to know under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in the UK has made public authorities as the duty-bearer, often making them to selectively decouple practices from policies. This has resulted in disclosing data that may derail from the intended goals of open government. By analyzing the top fifty requesters who made 34,314 requests, we examine how the same requests can result in varying responses. Our preliminary findings suggest four implementation blind spots. The first entails data disclosure that contravene privacy and the second disclosure can potentially jeopardize the long-standing stakeholder relationship. Whereas the last two types withhold information despite it is in the public interests. The findings offer a counterintuitive insight that public authorities are willing to disclose information in support of transparency and accountability and to withhold information that is not in the public interests. We find the opposite with private pursuits superseding public interests.