Slashdot Mirror
States Pass Thousands of Info Restriction Laws
nebaz writes "The AP has published an article analyzing over 1000 laws passed by state legislatures since 9/11, and discovered a disturbing trend. More and more information is being made unavailable to the public. Some of this information may seem reasonable, dealing with national security and all, but there are other things, such as safety plans at schools, medication errors at nursing homes, and disciplinary actions against state employees, that are becoming restricted." From the article: "In statehouse battles, the issue has pitted advocates of government openness - including journalists and civil liberties groups - against lawmakers and others who worry that public information could be misused, whether it's by terrorists or by computer hackers hoping to use your credit cards. Security concerns typically won out."
Headline: "Politics: States Pass Thousands of Info Restriction Laws"
Slashdot: "Nothing for you to see here, please move along"
Something that bothers me:
Social security numbers being used for ID. I thought it was, when social security was enacted, against the law for social security numbers to be used for anything else besides social security.
I also hate that companies make many millions selling info about me- credit bureaus and such. And then the credit bureaus want to sell me a service to watch for errors they may make. I would like info about me to be private, unless I choose to disclose it.
What a joke. I just feel like sometimes we double dead bolt the front door and install a state of the art security system on the front door, and leave the back door wide open....
And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
so true
Purple, because ice cream has no bones.
Ignorance is Strength
Freedom of Speech isn't very useful when you no longer know what to say.
... in the name of security, deserves neither, and loses both. -- Thomas Jefferson (*)
These laws are hardly surprising in that light...
(*) misquoted, I'm getting different wordings for every page quoting it, and it is sometimes attributed to Benjamin Franklin.
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
about whats going on with Federal and State govs and not buying the "its for your own good" as being an exceptable answer as to why TYRANNY is ruling the land here in the USA. If restricting FREEDOM and INFORMATION is the answer then our ELECTED officials must have asked the wrong question.
Vote the sorry bastards out and start electing real live humans to political offices not these morons we have now. Start with campaign funding reform. For the love of all thats good and pure do something. Dont let these SOB run this once great land into the ground.
It has nothing to do with hypocracy and everything to do with corruption and control.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
medication errors at nursing homes,...disciplinary actions against state employees, that are becoming restricted...worry that public information could be misused, whether it's by terrorists or by computer hackers hoping to use your credit cards. Security concerns typically won out.
Oh come on, security is not what they are concerned about.
In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of cases when a politician says that something must be kept secret "for national security reasons" they are really telling that the information would embarrass (or incriminate) them or their political allies. It's about as dumb as saying "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Or the philanderers who tell their spouse that they are secret agents working under deep cover for the NSA.
For that matter, the whole idea of "security through obscurity" is flawed. Secret emergency plans for schools? What in the heck is the point of having a plan if nobody is allowed to know what it is?
--MarkusQ
Given the propensity of state and federal government to want to classify anything and everything under the sun as "sensitive security information" (or some such arbitrary bullshit), I have to wonder how long it'll be before computer source code currently available under FOIA or its state equivalent (i.e. Veteran Affairs' VistA health informatics software) is also classified that way.
(Has anyone ever FOIA'd their state government for in-house software to look at?)
It's not about being fair, but about maintaining control.
It's the best interest of those in power to ensure they can keep a tight lid on everything, while demanding every aspect of the the citizens' lives be exposed to government review and scrutiny.
Remember, your rights and life mean nothing to the government, except as grist for the money mill.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Well, I agreed with you, until you said that this is typical of "right-wing governments" (implication: left-wing governments don't do this).
And not just politicians, but lawyers, police, teachers, non-profits, corporations, etc (but only the right-wing ones, right!?)
You mean by using the more effective, 24-hour propaganda machine suggested by Rumsfeld which is paying journalists to write favorably about the US and it's war effort?
I wonder how much propaganda the US is involved in domestically and in other regions around the world and I really think organisations such as RSF (reporters without borders) should do more to discourage it - no wonder reporters are always getting locked up.
There are two sides to every story and NO news source ever presents both, everyone has an agenda.
Excuses Are Like Assholes - Everybody's Got One
The question is not concerns over security.
The discussion is the clarity of our view of reality as it actually is.
I for one don't particularly care what a group which claims authority judges to be law if it does not coincide with how reality works.
Truth frees. End of discussion. Bring all the legislation you want, doesn't change the fact or destract actual truth seekers. Not in the least.
No human will decide what I will or will not know if I decide to get involved. It's that simple. Decree away 'government'
//de ~ 9cimi
Humanity itself is flawed. We are greedy violent creatures that the political elite, both left and right, deny exist. Yet we carry on in a manner that exemplifies our animalistic ways. The main two political sides in the US are delusional and deny this. You have the delusional right who believe in a galactic good versus evil and define conservative as "how much money will it make me?". On the delusional left you have belief in cultural & monetary evil and the underlying goodness of humanity followed by a snobbish cultural marxism which believes that anyone and everyone should be welcomed with open arms.
"The smart way to keep /.'ers passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable stories, but allow very lively debate within those stories - even encourage the more critical and dissident views by modding up. That gives /.'ers the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the fanboy conjecture of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the discussion." Cowboy Nealsky
when it comes to information that certain people don't want you to know is that there are often many ways to get it, if enough people are interested, or if it is important enough
It's very much a cliche, but information wants to be free. The problem here is the increasing difficulty with which certain kinds of legitimate 'right-to-know' information can be obtained legally.
It's a sad fact that most people pay less attention to state politics than federal, assuming that they pay any attention at all. I am very interested, but media typically gives it less attention, unless there's somebody who was killed or something along those lines that makes us feel even less in control than we alreday are. I have to listen to alternative news often to get any depth at all (NPR, state news channel, etc).
The best I can see us really doing here is paying closer attention to goings ons, and most of have neither the time or inclination for it (present company probably excluded, of course).
uR iGn0ranc3, Their Power
You are correct in that it all starts at campaign finance reform. But guess what? It'll never occur, the same way congress gives themselves raises they would NEVER approve of CFR as it'd limit each and every one of them and their ability to get reelected. After all, what's the use in obtaining a position of power if every Tom Dick and Harry has an equal chance at obtaining that same position, regardless of how many strings your daddy had to pull and how rich you are?
"On a scale from 1 to 10, people are stupid"
Most politicians do not care about their consituents. They care about themselves, they care about power, they care about staying in power as long as possible. Rarely do they do anything to relinquish that power. Locking up the communications, data, and government plans will further their goal of keeping the people dumb, and promoting their own power plans. And this crosses party lines. If anyone thinks that the left is different, look long and hard at people like Teddy Kennedy or Tom Daschle. Both of those clowns did very little to benefit their constituents. They're backstabbing fools who would do anything to stay in power.
To anyone who thinks the right or the left is better, you've fallen into the media's trap. Look at the history of Rome. Power corrupts from within, and the media is blind to it, as are most people. We're in for a fall, and it's going to be a bad one.
Does anyone remember the terrorist's laptop that was confiscated in Iraq that contained emergency plans for specific elementary schools in the United States? That actually happened, and those sorts of things could obviously be exploited for very bad reasons. Don't jump to conclusions so easily.
There's a lot of evidence that the system in the United States is exactly like that. What makes you think it isn't?
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
Not only that, but without access to said plans, how do you expect to find your own kid in the event of an actual emergency??
And how would you know if the plans might actually put kids in more danger than if there was no plan at all?
Realworld example of some years back: fire escape plans that sent kids out onto a busy main street, rather than toward quieter side streets.
ISTM such screwups are far more likely than any hypothetical use of said plans by a (OMG!!) Terrorist or Child Molester, or whatever is this week's Official FUD.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
So it got out that the US does what every occupying power does when it takes over a country? It truly does not surprise me that the US has a propaganda machine working in Iraq, and it shouldn't surprise anyone.
Why not?