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<% @title = "About" %>
<%= render :partial => 'help/alpha_notice' %>
<div id="about_sidebar">
<h1 id="contact">Contact Us</h1>
<p>If your question isn't answered here, or you just wanted to let us know
something about the site, <a href="/help/contact">contact us</a>.
</p>
</div>
<h1>Introduction to WhatDoTheyKnow</h1>
<dl>
<dt id="purpose">What is WhatDoTheyKnow for?</dt>
<dd>To help you find out inside information about what the UK government
is doing.</dd>
<dt id="premise">How does the site work?</dt>
<dd>You choose the public authority that you would like information from, then
write a brief note describing what you want to know. We then send your request
to the public authority. Any response they make is automatically published on the
website for you and anyone else to find and read.
</dd>
<dt id="whybother_me">Why would I bother to do this?</dt>
<dd>You pay taxes, and then government does things with the money. All sorts of
things that affect your life, from healthcare through to national defence. Some
it does badly, some it does well. The more we find out about how government
works, the better able we are to make suggestions to improve the things that
are done badly, and to celebrate the things that are done well.
</dd>
<dt id="whybother_them">Why would the public authority bother to reply?</dt>
<dd>Under Freedom of Information (FOI) law, they have to respond.
</dd>
<dt id="who">Who makes it?</dt>
<dd>WhatDoTheyKnow is made by <a href="http://www.mysociety.org">mySociety</a>,
and was initially <a href="http://www.mysociety.org/2006/12/06/funding-for-freedom-of-information/">funded by the JRSST Charitable Trust</a>. mySociety is a project of the
registered charity <a href="http://www.ukcod.org.uk/UK_Citizens_Online_Democracy">UK Citizens Online Democracy</a>.
If you like what we're doing, then you can
<a href="https://secure.mysociety.org/donate/">make a donation</a>.
</dd>
</dl>
<h1>Making requests</h1>
<dl>
<dt id="missing_body">You're missing the public authority that I want to request from!</dt>
<dd>
Please <a href="/help/contact">contact us</a> with the name of the public authority and,
if you can find it, their contact email address for Freedom of Information requests.
If you'd like to help add a whole category of public authority to the site, for example all
primary care trusts or all schools, then please
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/2cep8a">edit this shared spreadsheet</a> (Google account required).
</dd>
<dt id="quickly_response">How quickly will I get a response?</dt>
<dd>By law public bodies must respond within 20 days, excluding weekends and
any UK bank holidays. The date that the response is due by is shown on the
page for your request. You will be emailed if this date goes by without
a response, so you can send the public authority another note to hurry them up.
</dd>
<dt id="ico_help">Can you tell me more of the nitty gritty about the process of making requests?</dt>
<dd>Have a look at the
<a href="http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/access_to_official_information.aspx">access to official information</a>
pages on the Information Commisioner's website.
</dd>
<dt id="data_protection">Can I request information about myself?</dt>
<dd>No. Requests made using WhatDoTheyKnow are public, made under the
Freedom of Information Act, and cannot help you find information about a
private individual. If you would like to know what information a public
authority holds about yourself, you should make a "Subject Access Request" in
private using Data Protection law. The leaflet <a
href="http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/subject_access_-_guide_for_data_subjects.pdf">Subject
Access - A guide for data subjects</a> (on the Information Commisioner's
website) explains how to do this.
<dt id="private_requests">I'd like to keep my request secret! (At least until I publish my story)</dt>
<dd>WhatDoTheyKnow is currently only designed for public requests. All
responses that we receive are automatically published on the website for anyone
to read. You should contact the public authority directly if you would like to
make a request in private. If you're interested in buying a system which helps
you manage FOI requests in secret, then <a href="/help/contact">contact us</a>.
</dd>
</dl>
<h1 id="privacy">Privacy Questions</h1>
<dl>
<dt>Who gets to see my email address?</dt>
<dd>We will not disclose your email address to anyone, including the public
authority you are sending a request to, unless we are obliged to by law,
or you ask us to. If you send a message to another user on the site, then
it will reveal your email address to them. You will be told that this
is going to happen.
</dd>
<dt>Will you send nasty, brutish spam to my email address?</dt>
<dd>Nope. After you sign up to WhatDoTheyKnow we will only send you emails
about the site or related mySociety services. We will never give or sell
your email addresses to anyone else, unless we are obliged to by law, or you
ask us to.</dd>
<dt>Why will my name appear publically on the site?</dt>
<dd>It means that someone researching the same area can get in touch with you,
and maybe give you more information or ideas relating to your request. Also,
we're going to publish the response with the name of the civil servant who
wrote it, so it seems only fair that your name should be public too!
Therefore, we encourage you to use your real name, but you may use a pseudonym
if you would like to be anonymous.
</dd>
<dt id="tracking">Why does the list of things that I'm tracking appear publically on the site?</dt>
<dd>This helps you find others who are researching the same area of government,
so you can form groups to investigate or campaign together. It also helps us
show requests which are related to other requests. If you've ever used a
"social bookmarking" website such as Delicious, Digg or reddit, think of it like
that.
</dd>
</dl>
<div id="hash_link_padding"></div>
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