The New York Times
January 28, 2011
By Eric Lipton
Republican Congressman Darrell Issa of California wants to promote transparency by collecting the names of citizens requesting copies of federal government documents, but while ordinarily embracing transparency and Issa’s goal of making agencies respond fairly and expediently, civil libertarians are worried that the information could be used against the citizens making the requests. -db
One Comment
The idea of transparency appears to be a good intention – that of creating a more open form of governance but it also reeks of neurotic nationalism for it seeks to “track” citizens of the USA; And to build a data base that can no doubt be used against them in an insidious manner.
However, the honorable Republican Senator Darrell Issa of California may be also have a point – the question of “security of the nation”. Many countries that are unfriendly towards the USA could misuse the Freedom of Information Act. The possibilities of something like this occurring are immense.
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