Government Secrecy: Decisions Without Democracy
The expansion of official secrecy now poses a challenge to basic democratic processes, argues a new report from OpenTheGovernment.org and People for the American Way.
In a highly readable account, the report explains why openness is a virtue, explores how secrecy impedes public deliberation, and considers what can be done about it.
“As Congress and the White House clash over this administration’s unprecedented secrecy, Americans need to know the full scope of the problem,” said Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org. “It is up to us, with and through our elected officials, to preserve our heritage of open and accountable government.”
See “Government Secrecy: Decisions without Democracy,” written by David Banisar, July 2007.
[Update: On July 31st, following significant backlash, Google announced that it was temporarily “rolling back” this feature “while we work on implementing stronger guardrails.”] Google’s motto famously used to be “don’t be evil.” However, its latest feature has just made being evil a whole lot easier. On July 30th, without much fanfare, Google Earth unveiled […]
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