Owen Boswarva
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owenboswarva.bsky.social
Owen Boswarva
@owenboswarva.bsky.social
2.4K followers 2.1K following 2.8K posts
A mix of stuff: mainly #opendata, #dataprotection, #geospatial, #datapolicy, #ddj, #genAI, #govtech. Links and half-formed thoughts posted for my own amusement. Still on Twitter at @owenboswarva. Sites: www.owenboswarva.com and www.datadaptive.com. He/him.
Posts Replies Media Videos
owenboswarva.bsky.social
It's Sunday morning! Have some more #openaddresses:

Manchester City Council in NW England has released its Council Tax address list as open data www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad...

Thanks @mancitycouncil.bsky.social!

I've geocoded the addresses ofc

#FOI #localgov #UKhousing #proptech #opendata
Screenshot of sample of Manchester City Council's Council Tax address data, visualised in Google Earth
November 30, 2025 at 10:07 AM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
I am nothing if not backward compatible
Screenshot of a nice message from Tumblr: You've made 250 posts on Tumblr! Thanks for posting all that stuff! I especially enjoyed the incredible photo of that cool thing you like!
November 30, 2025 at 7:54 AM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
AI is destroying the planet – by which we mean that you are destroying the planet when you generate pictures or text, ask questions, search for information. So selfish
November 29, 2025 at 10:03 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Thursday's Crime and Policing Bill debate in the UK House of Lords included quite a lot of anxiety about AI chatbots bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938/s...

"We all knew … that there would have to be an Online Safety Act II, and no doubt other versions as well."

#genAI #censorship #openweb #techpolicy
We have already heard many references to the Online Safety Act, which is inevitable. We all knew, even as we were debating the Bill before it was enacted, that there would have to be an Online Safety Act II, and no doubt other versions as well. As we have heard, technology is changing at an enormously fast rate, turbocharged by artificial intelligence. The Government recognise that in Clause 63. But surely the lesson from the past decade or more is that, although technology can be used for good, it can also be used to create and disseminate deeply harmful content. That is why the arguments around safety by design are absolutely critical, yet they have been lacking in some of the regulation and enforcement that we have seen. I very much hope that the Minister will be able to give the clarification that the noble Baroness asked for on the status of LLMs and chatbots under the Online Safety Act, although he may not be able to do so today.
November 29, 2025 at 6:29 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Government Transparency and Accountability hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025... Hansard transcript of a short debate in the UK House of Commons on Thursday, about the Government's lamentable record in responding to correspondence from MPs including written questions

#FOI #opengov #govcomms
What other options are available to us? I understand the pressures that Departments face, but there are many Ministers to answer these questions, not to mention an army of civil servants. I again refer to the ministerial code, which clearly states: "Ministers should, where possible, provide full and timely responses to written parliamentary questions, ministerial correspondence and select committee reports." With that in mind, earlier this month I ended up submitting 16 written parliamentary questions to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care just to ask when he planned to respond to 16 of my named day questions, which should have been answered in three sitting days but were all overdue—in some cases by up to two weeks. In what can only be described as a farcical situation, I submitted a written question asking when the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care planned to respond to a written question, which itself asked when the Secretary of State planned to respond to another written question, which was then finally responded to. It is with regret that I must inform hon. Members that I have 11 further written parliamentary questions that remain unanswered and overdue. The oldest was due for an answer by 14 October, which I have still not received.
November 29, 2025 at 1:42 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
UK Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) spend data, transactions over £25,000, April 2010 - October 2025 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (1.4 MB XLSX)

#publicspending #opengov #opendata
November 29, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Owen Boswarva
jonbainesdata.bsky.social
On my personal blog: FTT rather dismantles @ICOnews on both the facts and the law in this remarkable FOI judgment. Will the ICO have to rewrite their section 40 NCND guidance? informationrightsandwrongs.com/2025/11/29/n...
NCND for personal data – a qualified exemption?
[reposted from my LinkedIn Account] I’ve been known to criticise First-tier Tribunal (FTT) judgments in the freedom of information jurisdiction. By contrast, this one is superb. In it, the FTT dism…
informationrightsandwrongs.com
November 29, 2025 at 6:50 AM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Yay more #openaddresses:

City of Wolverhampton Council, in the West Midlands of England, has released its Council Tax address list as open data www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad...

Thx @wolvescouncil.bsky.social!

I've made a nice geocoded version too

#FOI #localgov #UKhousing #proptech #opendata
Screenshot of sample of City of Wolverhampton Council's Council Tax address data, visualised in Google Earth
November 28, 2025 at 7:13 AM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
UK Government spend data, transactions over £25,000:

● Cabinet Office, April 2010 - October 2025 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (3.5 MB XLSX)
● Department for Education (DfE), April 2010 - September 2025 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (52.6 MB zipped CSV)

#publicspending #opengov #opendata
November 28, 2025 at 6:24 AM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
I am interested to note that the UK's online regulator Ofcom considers information published on archive​.today to be "reasonably accessible" within the meaning of section 21 of the FOI Act www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/cens...

Okay to use then?

#FOI #webarchiving #openweb #censorship #techpolicy
Our response 1. Copy of the letter that was sent to GAB and reasons why this letter was sent We consider that the first half of the letter has been partly disclosed on the following website https://archive.md/RV5tz and therefore consider that this is publicly available information which is therefore exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOI Act. For the second half of the letter and for the reasons why this letter was sent, we can confirm that we hold this information in response to the request.
November 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Postcodes in Polygon: an #opendata tool from my Datadaptive side project – draw a shape on a map, get a list of postcodes www.datadaptive.com/pip/ (Great Britain only)

Now updated with postcode data from the latest release of the ONS Postcode Directory (November 2025)
Screenshot of Datadaptive's Postcodes in Polygon tool
November 27, 2025 at 8:20 AM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Not sure this helps? The suffragettes were proper bombers and arsonists, with the odd assassination attempt mixed in – UK Labour would have proscribed them too
November 26, 2025 at 10:29 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
What if I print out the doc and go over it with a thick black marker and then scan it in again #FOI #realstories
November 26, 2025 at 9:11 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
I see a Trump guy was caught doing diplomacy and the tape leaked, looks bad for them
November 26, 2025 at 8:57 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
The UK Government's #digitalID scheme "is provisionally forecast to cost £1.8 billion in total over the next three years", according to OBR obr.uk/efo/economic...

Fair question from Commons SITC chair @chionwurah.bsky.social MP … committees.parliament.uk/committee/13...

#govtech #vfm #opengov
"The accompanying OBR forecast also estimated that that the government's digital ID scheme is forecast to cost £1.8 billion over the next three years. This comes only a week after the committee was told by the Minister for Digital Government that it wasn't yet possible to assess the cost. Why have we been told two different things? At a time of tight public finances, the OBR has also called the scheme "unfunded." Given how important the digital transformation of public services like digital ID are to the government’s agenda, its concerning there is a real lack of transparency and clarity over its costs and benefits."
November 26, 2025 at 8:43 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Huge surge in children with little or no language skills
www.thetimes.com/uk/education... (£)

Concerning – they can't all become Murdoch columnists
November 26, 2025 at 8:24 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Latest UK #openaddresses:

Barnet Council in London has released its Council Tax address list as open data www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad...

(This local authority refused to disclose the corresponding UPRNs – dubious reasons – so there's no geocoded version this time)

#FOI #opendata
November 26, 2025 at 8:03 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
Standing offer: if you maintain the LLPG at a UK council and think the address records are Authority Owned Data rather than Supplied Data (iykyk), email me at [email protected]. I will try to unlock the address data legally using FOI + RPSI regs, and forget your name.

#opendata #openaddresses
November 26, 2025 at 7:13 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
London councils endure wave of cyber attacks, shared IT services hit www.computerweekly.com/news/3666350...

But Hackney says it's unaffected news.hackney.gov.uk/news/hackney...

K&C, Westminster, H&F reportedly share IT infrastructure www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

#localgov #cybersecurity
Four London councils have been cyber attacked over the past few days. Kensington and Chelsea; Hackney; Westminster; and Hammersmith and Fulham have all experienced IT system problems, and some services to the public have been affected, including phone line services. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster City Council issued a statement yesterday, confirming they were responding to a security issue.
November 26, 2025 at 6:29 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
OBR apologises for leak, tee-hee, as MPs scroll through details of the Budget while waiting for Reeves to announce them in the House www.bbc.com/news/article... #govcomms #infosec #clownshow
November 26, 2025 at 5:39 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
More #openaddresses:

Buckinghamshire Council in South East England has released its Council Tax address list as open data owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad...

No geocoded version this time, as sadly the UPRNs are missing for most of the records. (I've asked the Council to investigate.)

#FOI #opendata
November 25, 2025 at 8:26 AM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
UK House of Commons: @commonsproccom.parliament.uk has launched an inquiry undertaking a detailed review of Written Parliamentary Questions (WPQs) committees.parliament.uk/committee/12...

Find written questions and answers questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques...

#opengov #FOI -relevant
The inquiry will focus on: ● The purpose and value of a WPQ for MPs and their staff, and whether this has changed over time ● The interaction between WPQ and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and any other recent changes that have impacted on the ability of MPs to gain access to the same, or similar, information via other methods ● The limits on the number of WPQ that MPs can submit on any given day, and whether they are comparable with the rules in place in other legislatures ● Whether the internal House of Commons processes and procedures, and those in Government Departments, for processing and dealing with WPQs are working effectively and efficiently
November 24, 2025 at 9:13 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
I really wouldn't read too much into this, Kendall is just vamping. UK Labour will keep playing hot potato with the AI copyright policy conundrum as long as it can www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Consultation launched last year www.gov.uk/government/c...

#genAI #IPlaw #techpolicy
The technology secretary, Liz Kendall, has indicated she is sympathetic to artists' demands not to have their copyrighted works scraped by AI companies without payment and said she wanted to "reset" the debate. In remarks that suggest a change in approach from her predecessor, Peter Kyle, who had hoped to require artists to actively opt out of having their work ingested by generative AI systems, she said "people rightly want to get paid for the work that they do" and "we have to find a way that both sectors can grow and thrive in future". The government has been consulting on a new intellectual property framework for AI which, in the case of the most common large language models (LLMs), requires vast amounts of training data to work effectively.
November 24, 2025 at 8:38 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
70+ organisations and experts demand action over failing ICO www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releas...

Letter calls for an inquiry into "collapse in enforcement activity" at UK Information Commissioner's Office www.openrightsgroup.org/app/uploads/...

#Afghandatabreach #dataprotection #lackofgumption
Parliament has given the ICO considerable powers not to politely hope for the best, but to enforce compliance with legally binding orders. As we heard from the public hearing you hosted, the ICO chose not to use these powers to address the Afghan data breach, a decision strenuously defended by the Information Commissioner. Unfortunately, the Afghan data breach is not an isolated incident, but the symptom of deeper structural failures which are emerging in the way the ICO operates. The recent call for views on enforcement procedural guidance "aims to increase transparency" about how the ICO investigates infringements, but does not change or even leave room to question the ICO overall approach to enforcement.
November 24, 2025 at 8:09 PM
owenboswarva.bsky.social
UK ministers' criminal records can stay secret, rules watchdog www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art... (£)

ICO decision notice ico.org.uk/action-weve-...

#FOI #opengov #dataprotection
In a decision notice, the ICO accepted the Cabinet Office's claim that disclosing the number of ministers who declared convictions could create a "jigsaw" effect through repeated requests identifying individual ministers. It argued that, hypothetically, if one minister resigned after the Cabinet Office had previously disclosed at least one minister had declared a conviction, and a follow-up request then revealed no ministers in post had a conviction, the resigned minister could be exposed.
November 24, 2025 at 7:54 PM