Access to information feels to me like a human right. Blocking that by any means (legal blockade, price unrealistic high) feels like an infringement on a Human Right.
I know this isn’t the way the world works yet, but a Human can dream.
Idealistically, I agree with access to information. But how do you square that (and I don’t have a solution) with the proliferation of misinformation used to manipulate the population or the access to dangerous information such as building bombs and bio weapons?
That knowledge is already available and generally people don’t build bombs or bioweapons. Otherwise they could still go to university and learn all that if they so wish
Ok but what about "being directly interfered with by foreign actors"?
This is what's happening right now in Spain. Foreign interference (Ceuta, Dept. Of Homeland evidence...), followed up by foreign social media manipulation campaigns.
Currently, it looks like these campaigns will replace the current government.
Is it a threat to democracy if citizens gather facts from foreign actors when their domestic government attempts to suppress those facts? On a general level, not speaking to this situation in particular. Just curious.
The domestic government holding a monopoly on information is a threat, and foreign information can be a relief, yes.
Foreign misinformation is also a threat, and domestic government shutting it out can also be a relief.
So you have to ask yourself, where are we? Is Spain (or any European country that is not currently bootlicking, for that matter) a dictatorship that needs Freedom messages in a bottle from the USA, or is the USA directly subverting their democracies with espionage?
Why did the USA give millions to Morocco earlier this summer? Why did the Dept. of Homeland (so espionage) produce decade old evidence of corruption in a former administration that would be linked to the current one, at this precise time? Just asking questions here.
All nations are under pressure to hide information from their citizens, whether it’s for covering up political scandals or suppressing political opposition. If you give them the tools, they will eventually use them. So you can’t give them the tools.
The democratic way to fight misinformation is with public trust, a well educated population, and by publishing true information to counter misinformation. Anything less treats citizens as children who can’t be trusted to form their own opinions.
Beautiful on paper, in practice you surrender national security to foreign actors.
I agree on the philosophical part, letting our governments act opaquely under the veil of national security, inevitably leads them to turn on their citizens. But total transparency will be exploited by foreign powers (likely with domestic cooperation), until those that once defended it are removed from power.
Who decides what is allowed to be covered up? Surely not the public, if your goal is to hide those same “dangerous” things from the public.
Historically, this kind of control has always been a favored tool of the corrupt. If you build an apparatus of censorship, it will be used to harm the public.
janandonly · · focus · HN ↗
I know this isn’t the way the world works yet, but a Human can dream.
latexr · · focus · HN ↗
anon48293 · · focus · HN ↗
the_gipsy · · focus · HN ↗
This is what's happening right now in Spain. Foreign interference (Ceuta, Dept. Of Homeland evidence...), followed up by foreign social media manipulation campaigns.
Currently, it looks like these campaigns will replace the current government.
This is a direct threat to democracy.
iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
the_gipsy · · focus · HN ↗
The domestic government holding a monopoly on information is a threat, and foreign information can be a relief, yes.
Foreign misinformation is also a threat, and domestic government shutting it out can also be a relief.
So you have to ask yourself, where are we? Is Spain (or any European country that is not currently bootlicking, for that matter) a dictatorship that needs Freedom messages in a bottle from the USA, or is the USA directly subverting their democracies with espionage?
Why did the USA give millions to Morocco earlier this summer? Why did the Dept. of Homeland (so espionage) produce decade old evidence of corruption in a former administration that would be linked to the current one, at this precise time? Just asking questions here.
iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
The democratic way to fight misinformation is with public trust, a well educated population, and by publishing true information to counter misinformation. Anything less treats citizens as children who can’t be trusted to form their own opinions.
the_gipsy · · focus · HN ↗
I agree on the philosophical part, letting our governments act opaquely under the veil of national security, inevitably leads them to turn on their citizens. But total transparency will be exploited by foreign powers (likely with domestic cooperation), until those that once defended it are removed from power.
iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
Historically, this kind of control has always been a favored tool of the corrupt. If you build an apparatus of censorship, it will be used to harm the public.
the_gipsy · · focus · HN ↗
There is a gray line somewhere between surveillance state and revealing all intel, which can serve national security and also diplomacy.
iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
The problem is that this typically ends up shifting corruption towards these sectors, which ends up hollowing out national security.
Things like overclassification are a serious problem.