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points by darksaints 2 days ago | 0 comments

I'm increasingly of the opinion that state secret classification of our law enforcement systems should only exist for a year max. We've abused the system to shield evil people from accountability and to hide evil actions by our government, and that has to change.

[–] bradley13 1 day ago

I would go much further. Almost nothing that a government does, should be classified. The government is there to serve the people. If it cannot do so in daylight, then it is doing something wrong.

Exceptions should be rare. Honestly, I cannot imagine any exceptions outside of protecting military secrets from foreign powers.

[–] darksaints 1 day ago

Yeah, I’d say the only thing that deserves classification would be weapon technical designs (but not existence/purpose), and maybe short term operational details for law enforcement or military planned actions.

[–] samspot 1 day ago

Think about this some more. It would be horrendous for individual privacy if your neighbors could see what you paid in taxes, all your medicare claims, which of your family members are imprisoned, your kids public school grades. Many things the government does should not be public record.