CovidCard Firmware and Hardware Specifications
Andrew Chen made this Official Information request to Department of Internal Affairs
The request was refused by Department of Internal Affairs.
From: Andrew Chen
Dear Department of Internal Affairs,
In the documents released under the 02 October 2020 Proactive Release, there is mention of a "Firmware Specification" and a "Hardware Specification" for the CovidCard (particularly in the Defence Technology Agency's report). I would like to request these two documents, and I believe that they would contain a number of the details that F. Grief was looking for in https://fyi.org.nz/request/13583-covidca....
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Chen
From: OIA
Department of Internal Affairs
Tçnâ koe Andrew,
Thank you for your OIA request to the Department of Internal Affairs (included with this email)
The Department will provide its response to your request as soon as practicable and within twenty working days. The 20th working day is 4 November 2020
Please note that in cases where the Department’s response provides information that is identified to be of general public interest, the response may also be published on the Department of Internal Affairs website. If the Department publishes its response to your OIA request, all personal information, including your name and contact details, will be removed.
Ngâ mihi
Michelle Reed | Lead Advisor – Official Correspondence
Te Urungi - Organisational Strategy and Performance
Te Tari Taiwhenua - The Department of Internal Affairs
45 Pipitea St | PO Box 805, Wellington 6140, New Zealand | www.dia.govt.nz
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Chen <[FOI #13922 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 6 October 2020 5:05 PM
To: OIA <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - CovidCard Firmware and Hardware Specifications
Dear Department of Internal Affairs,
In the documents released under the 02 October 2020 Proactive Release, there is mention of a "Firmware Specification" and a "Hardware Specification" for the CovidCard (particularly in the Defence Technology Agency's report). I would like to request these two documents, and I believe that they would contain a number of the details that F. Grief was looking for in https://fyi.org.nz/request/13583-covidca....
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Chen
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From: Anita Waring
Department of Internal Affairs
Kia ora Mr Chen
Please find attached the Department of Internal Affairs’ response to your
OIA request.
Ngâ mihi
Anita Waring
Policy Analyst | Ministerial Advice
The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua
Level 9, 45 Pipitea Street | PO Box 805, Wellington| [1]www.dia.govt.nz
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dia.govt.nz/
From: Andrew Chen
Dear Anita,
Thank you for your response. Can I confirm that a public interest test has been applied in the consideration of whether or not to release this information? Can I also please confirm whether these two documents (the "firmware specification" and "hardware specification") are owned by DIA or by another entity?
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Chen
From: Anita Waring
Department of Internal Affairs
Kia ora Andrew
As is required by section 9(1) of the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the Department considered whether the public interest in making this information available outweighs the grounds for withholding it. This was not considered to be the case and the decision was made to withhold the documents in full. This should have been made clear in our response letter to you.
In response to your second question, for the purposes of the Act, the Department holds these documents and they were assessed for release under the Act as per our usual process.
Ngā mihi
Anita Waring
Policy Analyst | Ministerial Advice
The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua
Level 9, 45 Pipitea Street | PO Box 805, Wellington| www.dia.govt.nz
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Chen <[FOI #13922 email]>
Sent: Monday, 2 November 2020 10:53 AM
To: Anita Waring <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Your OIA request OIA2021-0212
Dear Anita,
Thank you for your response. Can I confirm that a public interest test has been applied in the consideration of whether or not to release this information? Can I also please confirm whether these two documents (the "firmware specification" and "hardware specification") are owned by DIA or by another entity?
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Chen
-----Original Message-----
Kia ora Mr Chen
Please find attached the Department of Internal Affairs’ response to your OIA request.
Ngâ mihi
Anita Waring
Policy Analyst | Ministerial Advice
The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua Level 9, 45 Pipitea Street | PO Box 805, Wellington| [1]www.dia.govt.nz
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dia.govt.nz/
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #13922 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.
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hide quoted sections
From: Andrew Chen
Dear Anita,
Thank you for your response, and I appreciate you taking the time to clarify those questions for me.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Chen
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LB left an annotation ()
Their refusal makes no sense and would be worth challenging. There are large numbers of cards that have been issued to members of the public, so it would be entirely feasible, to the point of being trivial, for a competitor of whoever’s commercial interests are being protected to source a card and reverse engineer the specifications. This means that there is no real commercial disadvantage I just releasing the documents.
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