Inner House quashes FOI decisions over risk of identifying Salmond complainers

The Scottish Courts of Session Inner House ruled in favor of the Scottish ministers, overturning decisions by the Scottish Information Commissioner to disclose information related to complaints against former First Minister Alex Salmond. The court determined that the Commissioner had applied an overly strict legal threshold regarding the risk of identifying complainers, thereby failing to properly protect their anonymity. The judgment clarifies that information constitutes contempt of court if it creates a real or substantial risk of identifying complainants, even through "jigsaw identification," where combining seemingly innocuous data reveals identities. The court emphasized that it is unnecessary for disclosure to definitively confirm a complainer’s identity; the potential for assumptions to be made within specific communities is sufficient to trigger protection. This ruling aligns the interpretation of freedom of information exemptions with existing anonymity orders designed to safeguard dignity, privacy, and safety. This case is highly relevant to open data governance as it establishes a critical precedent for balancing transparency with legal protections. It mandates that data custodians and information commissioners recognize the cumulative power of datasets to reveal sensitive personal information. By rejecting the requirement for absolute certainty in identification risks, the decision strengthens privacy safeguards for vulnerable individuals in public interest investigations, urging stricter adherence to anonymity protocols when handling potentially sensitive records.

Source: scottishlegal.com
Published on 2026-11-03

Inner House quashes FOI decisions over risk of identifying Salmond complainers

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