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mysociety / alaveteli

Provide a Freedom of Information request system for your jurisdiction
https://alaveteli.org
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Support making requests under pseudonyms via an account with a username corresponding to a real name #6279

Open RichardTaylor opened 3 years ago

RichardTaylor commented 3 years ago

We've had cases where users have made requests under pseudonyms, but have then published the results of their work under their real names.

Perhaps we need to deal with this situation within the software.

For pro users, revealing who actually made the request, might be something revealed in conjunction with unembargoing.

Users might want a batch specific pseudonym.

This feature would enable the requests to be listed on the user's main account, so form part of their public record of work.

This feature might not be attractive to existing traditional journalists, but could be attractive to those prepared to operate in a more open manner.

RichardTaylor commented 3 years ago

Related: #6174 Incorporate a pseudonym generator into the service

garethrees commented 3 years ago

Linking to https://github.com/mysociety/alaveteli/issues/285#issuecomment-452820327

RichardTaylor commented 2 years ago

It might be good to give users an opportunity to give the reason they used a pseudonym.

RichardTaylor commented 2 years ago

This feature could be of use to those who don't feel safe making FOI requests in their "real" names, but who want the option to be able to be associated with, and take credit for, their requests in the future.

Journalists who make requests under pseudonyms due to a fear their requests might be treated differently and perhaps being rejected are another potential use-case.

One could envisage someone who is associated with a public body not wanting to be publicly associated with a request until their relationship with that body is over.

RichardTaylor commented 1 year ago

The question has arisen as to if people who have used pseudonyms have, under the Right to Rectification, a right to have their requests associated with their real name (or a new pseudonym of their choice!).