Re:Snowden calls for whistleblower shield after claims by ne...
by AnthonyMouse on Sunday May 22, 2016 @06:58PM
(#11750650)
> People are entitled to trust the government not to do that
People are entitled to trust that the government won't do the sort of things that governments have historically done? This is getting dangerously close to the point of legitimizing the government of North Korea because it's nominally democratically elected.
> and also to presume that the really gross abuses will be hard to keep secret.
Isn't this directly at odds with aggressive systemic and cultural protection of secrets and imposing severe criminal penalties on whistleblowers? You're effectively arguing that the government can only get away with as much malice as they have the capacity to keep secret, and then using that as justification for bolstering the government's ability to keep secrets. That seems like it should go the other way.
People are entitled to trust that the government won't do the sort of things that governments have historically done? This is getting dangerously close to the point of legitimizing the government of North Korea because it's nominally democratically elected.
> and also to presume that the really gross abuses will be hard to keep secret.
Isn't this directly at odds with aggressive systemic and cultural protection of secrets and imposing severe criminal penalties on whistleblowers? You're effectively arguing that the government can only get away with as much malice as they have the capacity to keep secret, and then using that as justification for bolstering the government's ability to keep secrets. That seems like it should go the other way.