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."

Comments

privacy

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is it the government can make pretty much anything secret even when it has nothing to do with security, and meanwhile citizens are losing more and more privacy from things like warrantless wiretapping? Bunch of hypocrites.

Re:privacy

[BrynM]

The solution is to stop whining and actually become politically active.

Though you are in many ways correct, that is an idealistic point of view to hold here in the US. To ask a typical american to be "active" for anything sounds too much like work to them. Then come the mental justifications and excuses such as "I don't have time" or "well it really isn't my problem - it's waaaayyy over there". Further, to say "just participate" and not hand someone the tools to do it is a cop-out too many intelligent americans use.

Instead, I've found it's better to encourage people to simply question everything - especially motivation. Then teach them to link up where they were right and be willing to laugh when they are wrong.

For example, someone I knew was addicted to celebrity life and tabloid-ish who's hot and who's not type things. Any mention of politics would get his pat answer: "That may be life, but that's not living. Next Subject." It really bothered me that someone who was intelligent, cynical and funny could be that closed-minded.

So I started pointing out that someone who was getting press in a slow crescendo (ie:"hot pictures" then "shocking scandal" then "heartfelt interview") probably had something like a movie or a book in the works. He eventually began to see when particular celebrity marketing machines were accelerating to generate buzz as well. Finally, he learned that he could apply those observation skills to anything. Today, he loves to talk politics as much as music. (Note: I didn't plan for this, but learned from what was happening over the course of months).

"Question everything" is a cliche for a reason. Good advice is often repeated. Luckily it turns out that people actually like to be sceptical, but most don't know how to do it critically. Once they know how, they can't help but participate in some way.

Obligatory Chomsky

[michaelhood]

"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate." Noam Chomsky