Observer accountability · UK · framework first
An investigator is not an invisible eye outside the graph. Its public mandate, money, method, evidence choices, limits, words, actions, corrections and challenge routes are observable too.
The principle
“The observer is also observed” means scrutiny power joins the same evidence discipline it applies to others. It does not mean the investigator and subject are the same legal entity, that observation proves motive, or that everybody owes the internet their private life.
Ten questions
Which exact public institution is acting, in what official capacity and jurisdiction?
Which statute, appointment, contract, terms of reference or published rule permits the work—and where does it stop?
Who commissioned, funds, appoints, sponsors or supplies the observer? Each relation keeps its own meaning.
Which organisation, programme, decision, period and question are actually under examination?
What was gathered, selected, excluded, tested and limited? Is the method public and versioned?
Is this an allegation, provisional finding, final finding, auditor opinion, tribunal decision or TaxSorted analysis?
What public procedural action happened, which exact institution acted on which declared subject, and where did any referral go?
What did the observed institution publicly accept, dispute, correct or appeal?
Who can review, hear a complaint, audit, inspect, overturn, recommend or judicially review the observer?
Why did TaxSorted include, omit, paraphrase or compare this record, and how can that editorial act be corrected?
Power in a graph
A network edge must be published and typed. Funding is not control; appointment is not operational direction; cooperation is not collusion; a complaint is not a finding.
Compliance decision → HMRC statutory review → First-tier Tribunal → possible Upper Tribunal appeal
Service complaint → HMRC first and second review → Adjudicator → MP/PHSO. A complaint does not pause tax or replace an appeal.
Check the official source ↗The Adjudicator is personally independent and is not an HMRC officer.
The published service agreement also says the office uses HMRC staff, funding, premises and legal personality. Both facts belong in the graph.
Check the official source ↗Regulatory concern → statutory inquiry → evidence and protective powers → published outcome
Opening an inquiry is not itself a finding of wrongdoing. Service complaints, Commission decision review and Tribunal appeal have different scope and clocks.
Check the official source ↗C&AG/NAO audits public spending → reports to Parliament → PAC uses the work for scrutiny
The Public Accounts Commission scrutinises the NAO budget and appoints its external auditor; that auditor also performs an annual value-for-money study of the NAO.
Check the official source ↗Assessment → investigation → determination or no determination → representation → sanction → court appeal
Police retain parts of the criminal lane. Published closed cases include no-offence and no-determination outcomes as well as breaches.
Check the official source ↗TaxSorted's reading of the current SIA licensable-activity list: private investigation is not itself named.
That means only that this specific SIA licence category is absent, not that the work has special powers or immunity. Data-protection, criminal, civil and activity-specific rules still apply.
Check the official source ↗Words and doings
“Their words” means a dated, attributed, human-reviewed faithful paraphrase with a link back to the publisher. Exact source bodies are not copied by default. Corrections and reversals must be as visible as the original record.
Love-style experiment loop
Public meaning: explore a bounded question freely; findings earn weight through evidence, counterevidence, limits, challenge and correction. This is a controlled inquiry loop, not ambient surveillance.
1 · Hypothesis
Ask one falsifiable public-interest question.
2 · Pilot
Choose one small territory and a tiny field allowlist.
3 · Observe
Collect public institutional artefacts, not private traces.
4 · Evidence
Attach exact identity, source, date, method and limits.
5 · Counterevidence
Find the subject response and a real challenge route.
6 · Risk
Test rights, privacy, observer effect, bad joins and hostile reuse.
7 · Decide
Observe, adopt, adapt or discard—and publish why.
8 · Stop
Abort, contain and roll back when a wall is hit.
The wall
API status
Builders can align now around five collections: institutional relations, investigation engagements, public actions, institutional responses and coverage gaps. Real rows stay closed until source-by-source rights, confidential correction, operational privacy review, review-audit proof, monitored emergency stop and rollback are real—not strings claiming they happened.
The public issue tracker needs a GitHub account and has no confidential lane. Never post case files, personal data, legal evidence or safety-sensitive material there.
Reviewed 11 July 2026. Official self-description is evidence about what an institution says and publishes; it is not independent proof that every practice matches the description. This is public research, not legal advice.