WHY DOES ARTS COUNCIL CONSIDER AN ADJECTIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION?
WHEN is an adjective considered to be personal information? When it is redacted, it seems.
Asked why an adjective describing a voice mail left by Michael Colgan for an Arts Council official was redacted, the agency suggested the adjective could be deemed defamatory. However, this suggestion could be construed as a little confusing, to say the least. According to the FOI Act, a body cannot be held liable criminally, or in civil proceedings, for the release of potentially defamatory information. However, this ‘safeguard’ has yet to be tested in court. In the letter responding to the Mail on Sunday’s FOI request, the council said it was withholding names, email addresses, the adjective used to describe a voice message left by Mr Colgan as well as paragraphs of email text written by its own staff, because it was personal information. Personal and defamatory – we wonder what the adjective was?