Should sex offender information be made public? An FOI perspective
THE 536 names on the sex offender register are to remain a secret, according to news reports quoting the Deputy Prime Minister, Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
What would happen to this information under a Freedom of Information Act? Would their names be made public, or would their identities remain secret?
The question reveals quite a lot about what we might want, and not want, in a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and how it would work. When examining whether the names of sex offenders would remain secret, the first question to ask is whether there is an exemption defined in law that would allow it. In other words, does the law actually say that their names can remain secret? In most FOI Acts, the answer would be ‘yes’, names of sex offenders can remain secret, because all personal information is kept secret.
It’s easy to understand why keeping our personal details secret is important: In a trivial example, think how much more spam would be generated if your address, phone number, name, and any other information the government has, were to be made public. More worryingly, of course, are cases of harassment, crime and death threats. We all have a right to privacy, and this should be recognized in a FOI Act.
But, I hear you cry, “This is an outrage! I want to know if there is a sex offender living next to my kids’ playground, how can I keep my children safe?”
And this is where there is space for some discretion, which may or may not mean you can find out whether a sex offender lives near you.
The key mechanism is a public interest override. What this means is that if there is an overriding public interest in the information being made known, then the department in charge would have to release it.
Who decides? Well, first there would be an information officer in the department. If they think that the information is important, they might release it. If they choose not to, you could appeal to the independent Information Commission, and if it’s still rejected, you could go to the courts.
Chances are, however, that you wouldn’t be presented with the whole registry. You might be given the information on whether or not there is a sex offender living right next to your kids’ playground, without further information, a compromise between the right to information to protect your children and the offender’s right to privacy.
The bigger question, though, is whether the information would protect your kids in the first place, and whether the real answer comes from education, awareness and the willingness to talk openly about good and bad touch.
FOI, sadly, can’t provide an answer to those questions.
Sonia Randhawa is the director of the Centre for Independent Journalism, Malaysia.