Confidentiality/Freedom of Information

[Eurynomus]

Hello all,

Alright, so I'm sure this question has been asked, but I could not find it anywhere. Should the government be allowed to keep information classified as "Confidential", so that the public can gain no knowledge of it?

If the only proper role of government is to protect its citizens from the intrusion of force, is it beyond the government's mandate to keep knowledge of its projects away from the public, in hopes of protecting the public?

I am inherently opposed to anybody deciding for me what would be in my best interests to know and to not know.

But then again, what if the government was working on a certain weapon, with its purpose being to protect the citizens from force, and if foreign nations found out about this weapon, it would put the citizens of the original country in danger? Shouldn't it be kept secret?

[DavidOdden]

But then again, what if the government was working on a certain weapon, with its purpose being to protect the citizens from force, and if foreign nations found out about this weapon, it would put the citizens of the original country in danger? Shouldn't it be kept secret?

That would be one type of example; or, during time of war, the movement of troops should be kept confidential. Or, publishing the home addresses of judges preciding over trials against mobsters and terrorists. If the government cannot perform its function with the information in the open, it should keep the information secret.

[JMeganSnow]

Could there be some sort of legally-mandated time limit on certain forms of confidential information? After the war is over, there's no reason to keep your troop movements secret . . . assuming you actually beat your enemy, that is. Maybe the people that design fighter jets would like to be able to use the secret designs to improve commercial planes. I'm not sure.

I definitely agree with David that the government may need to keep some information secret simply to operate, and you can't keep information secret from the enemy without also keeping it secret from your own populace.

[Eurynomus]

Hmm.. I agree here, that some information needs to be kept secret. But what about, say, if we were to go to war with Iran? Should the government be keeping it from us until the last minute, or shouldn't they tell us, since they are acting on our behalf in going to war?

[DavidOdden]

But what about, say, if we were to go to war with Iran? Should the government be keeping it from us until the last minute, or shouldn't they tell us, since they are acting on our behalf in going to war?

I think that this should be universally distributed information -- "Surrender within 2 hours, or face the consequences". The question of whether we're planning on flattening Qom, Isfahan or Tehran isn't anything that anyone needs to know in advance, except the guys plotting the target. We can read about the big boom after it has happened.

But I don't think (and I'm guessing here) that you really mean "Should the public be informed before the fact", rather you're asking "If we open up a big can of whupass on Iran, should we go through a long and drawn-out national debate beforehand, after Ahmedinejad's weasels nuke Tel Aviv?". The answer to that is no.

[D'kian]

Could there be some sort of legally-mandated time limit on certain forms of confidential information? After the war is over, there's no reason to keep your troop movements secret . . . assuming you actually beat your enemy, that is.

Maybe not troop movements specifically, but letting information out can reveal certain methods. So even after the war, some things ought to be kept secret. There are no patent or copyright laws for military planing or intelligence operations, after all.

There are other facts that should be kept secret for a long time. The names of agents who've helped us, for instance, especially if they choose to remain in their country. Broken codes and the means used to crack them. Our codes that were not broken. The designs of various weapons or weapon components (like the sonar on a torpedo, the radar on a missile, the bombsight on a B-29 and so on).