From Iceland — Police Fail To Withhold Names And Identities

Police Fail To Withhold Names And Identities

Published October 25, 2014

In internal report on protests from 2008-2011, now disclosed

In internal report on protests from 2008-2011, now disclosed

Police have disclosed an internal report about its actions and organization during public demonstrations in the advent and aftermath of the 2008 ecomonic crash, including events related to the uprising known as the “kitchenware revolution”. This is in accordance to a ruling made by the Information Access Complaint Board last week.

The board ruled that the report should be disclosed as demanded by author and activist Eva Hauksdóttir since 2012, while the identity, names and addresses of various individuals and officers involved should be withheld. After distributing three copies of the report to select media outlets, the Police were made aware that those names had remained legible.

The police seem to have used a feature in document editors to cover those instances with black lines, rather than actually delete the information. The printed version then did not fully obscure the names, as they were lined over with a lighter shade of black than the text itself. It follows that the names and identities remained fully accessible to those with access to the report.

The report covers 136 protest gatherings from 2008 to 2011.

According to mbl.is, Police has called these copies back and will distribute an improved version, with identities hidden as demanded.

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