Down the memory hole

The Danny Williams-Government Department of Justice used to offer this sage advice to would-be ATIPpers on the pages of its website devoted to the subject of Access to Information:

"The ATIPPA is not meant to replace existing means of obtaining information. Before you make a request using the legislation, you may wish to try other, informal means to obtain the records you are seeking... Often, you can get the information you want in this informal way, without using the legislation. This route will often be faster for you and less expensive for public bodies to administer."

Why, you may ask, dear reader, did yours truly go to the trouble of screen-capping and transcribing this sage advice?

Well, because it's since been 404'd by The Most Open And Accountable Government In The History Of Ever.

TMOAAGITHOE's new web pages devoted to Access to Information — here and here — make no reference whatsoever to the "informal" method of obtaining government documents, the method which, scant days ago, information-seekers were told was "often... faster for you and less expensive for public bodies to administer."

The necessary implications in the bit-bucketting of this advice would seem to be this:

• Danny Williams-Government no longer wants you to get information quickly.
• Danny Williams-Government now prefers to waste money administering its Kafkaesque interpretation of the Access to Information regime.