Information Commissioner rules that Ofcom must publish more details of the locations of Mobile Phone Base Station Transmitter Masts
via Steve Wood's Freedom of Information and Open Government Blog and Heather Brookes' Your Right To Know blog (i.e. not via mainstream media sources):
We await the online publication of the Information Commissioner's Decision Notice under the Environmental Information Regulations, regarding the full publication of details from the Ofcom Sitefinder database of Mobile Phone Base Station Transmitter Mast locations, which currently only shows limited details.
According to the press release:
In reaching his decision, the Commissioner carefully considered each reason that Ofcom put forward for withholding grid references and the database in its entirety in a searchable format. These included national security, public safety and intellectual property rights. The Commissioner decided that none of the exceptions cited by Ofcom were appropriately applied. As with the Freedom of Information Act, the Environmental Information Regulations contain a presumption in favour of disclosure.
Hopefully Ofcom, who are supposed to be the statutory telecommunications and communications industry independent regulators, working on behalf of consumers, rather than of industry vested interests, will speedily comply with this Decision Notice, and will publish the requiite information within 35 days, rather than wasting public money and patience with an appeal to the Information Tribunal.
UPDATE:
The Decision Notice is now online: