A government which is above the law is not a government – it is a tyranny.
Tag: government
Open Government
Oh, yells yeah: A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency. […] The Freedom of Information Act should be administered with a clear presumption: In the face of doubt, openness prevails. The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract… Continue reading Open Government
Necessity and Tyrants
I was reading a discussion related to a story about how soon every email in the UK will be monitored by the government, and someone brought up this quote: “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” And I had to… Continue reading Necessity and Tyrants
The TSA’s Photo ID Rules are Useless
The rules that the TSA has rolled out regarding photo IDs and their requirements for getting onto passenger airplanes are usless. In fact, you could argue that they are worse than useless, since they create a false sense of security – and they cost us a lot of money (both directly and indrectly). But don’t… Continue reading The TSA’s Photo ID Rules are Useless
Sousveillance
This is encouraging: Now a countervailing storyline is starting to get some traction in real life: the increasing citizen use of technology to “watch from below.” The practice has been called “sousveillance,” a word that comes the French word “sous” (from below) with the word “viller” (to watch). Instead of Big Brother using a panopticon… Continue reading Sousveillance