Open Government: Transparency Could Work!

In this video I ask a hypothetical question. Could transparent government work? First, this is purely hypothetic, it is too far off what we have always had and known to every actually happen, so this is really a though exercise.

I understand the right to privacy. People's financial records, medical records, home addresses and such should not be a matter of public record... but why shouldn't our own government records be open to us individually?

The example, perhaps oversimplified, given in this video is of an imaginary Crack Cocaine dealer. If they are under investigation, why not inform them of the investigation in an attempt to stop the offending behavior more immediately? If the idea intrigues you, then watch my video.

As usual, I call for examples were transparent government would not work. Why must we be so insistent on proving guilt and locking people up, rather than putting a stop to the behavior. If the DEA is monitoring a drug dealer and is allowing a drug deal to go down in order to collect evidence, in some ways, aren't they an accessory? Shouldn't they be stopping the offending action as immediately as possible, rather than just trying to build a case? If someone dies due to a drug overdose that was monitored by surveillance by not interceded, in some ways doesn't that make the DEA somewhat responsible for the overdose death?

I guess what I am really questioning here is the purpose of government intervention? Is the intent to really protect the people, or is it to play a game of gotcha so that we may incarcerate as many people as possible? With the budget problems our government is currently having, perhaps we should be focusing on the true intent of protecting the people from harm, rather than spending tax money on punishing people. Just a though. What are yours?

Thanks for reading. Read all you want, I'll write more.
-Chris Corsello (aka NorCalCorsello)
December 2008

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• government
• transparent
• drug
• dealer
• enforcement
• NorCalCorsello

[ShadesOfKnight]

Open Source government. :)

[NorCalCorsello]

Yes! Thank you. Government records are eventually going to be transparent anyway. The amount of data, the interconnectedness of networks... there will be no way for government to communicate within itself and still keep secrets.

[Serge808]

they do that in italy for taxes

[tavin15]

well... I think the example is you gave is bad, but the idea is good.

The thing is:

innocent until the opposite is proven

They whould not let happen an crime, the police simply whould leave alone an innocent

PS: look at wikipedia for "Informational self-determination" I think that goes pretty much in your direction.

[OhCurt]

The best answer I can give is that I don't have enough background in this to really flesh out the idea.

Hmmm.