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posted by cmn32480 on Saturday February 18 2017, @10:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-make-sure-the-data-isn't-classified dept.

Common Dreams reports

Facing a presidential administration committed to waging war on Science, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) this week launched a website to help scientists blow the whistle on government interference in their work.

[...] The website encourages scientists employed by state and federal agencies to share "memos, emails, directives, or any other documents;" to send "datasets or other information that has been altered or removed from public view;" and adds: "You can also describe anything that has been communicated orally or even rumors that you have heard, and we will investigate."

The UCS urges potential whistleblowers to use encrypted communications, anonymous email, and the postal service to send materials, and encourages following the Electronic Frontier Foundation's advice for protecting privacy.

Related:
NASA's Earth Science Datasets and Others May be Disappearing From Public Access


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  • (Score: 1) by zugedneb on Sunday February 19 2017, @12:51AM

    by zugedneb (4556) on Sunday February 19 2017, @12:51AM (#468786)

    And yet, the president won because he is anti-immigrant, and promised to make america great again by taking home the jobs... Or something like that.

    So, the only thing the science loving loosers of the political battle would have had to give is what people actually want: a bit of racism and protectionism.

    "You" can complain that the winner is a clown, and now he wreak havoc, but the "other" remind me of the childless couple in the beginning of the movie Idiocracy.
    No matter how educated sensible they were, they died childless :D

    Meybe next time, the democrats, or other "good" party, should put on some fake mustaches and throw some Hail:s into the air, and they maybe win.

    --
    old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:09AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:09AM (#468799) Journal

    The word doesn't mean what you think it means. The word is cheapened every time it is used incorrectly. I own a bunch of stuff. My closest three neighbors are all the same race as me. If my neighbors take my stuff, is it racist of me to call them theives, and to take them to court to get my stuff back, and to prevent them taking my stuff?

    It is NOT racist to control who comes into your home. You might be racist if you put a sign on your property that says "No Mexicans", or "No Niggas" or something like that. That kind of crap is only dont to be hateful. But, you, the owner of your property, may exclude EVERYONE, any time you like. You may selectively allow some people to come on your property. It's not racism to do so.

    • (Score: 1) by zugedneb on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:17AM

      by zugedneb (4556) on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:17AM (#468803)

      bro, it was sarcasm.

      you should know me better by now than lecturing me on the meaning of the r-word...

      but then, I guess you are sarcastic too...

      --
      old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:29AM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:29AM (#468806) Journal

        Alright - apologies.

        I often respond to a comment, taking it at face value. I don't always look to see who I am responding to. So, the sarcasm was missed. Obviously, our positions are pretty close on this particular issue. ;^)

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @06:53AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @06:53AM (#468883)

          Runaway! Hanging with the White brother! Nazi dude! Anti-semite! One of those people who is a little more anti-semite than the Donald, poor, tiny Donald. Runaway collaborating with the enemies of America! Fucking Nazis! Treason, I smell treason.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:17AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:17AM (#468802)

    As far as I can tell, Trump won because he was NOT Hillary.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @02:43AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @02:43AM (#468832)

      ...and because USAians have the attention span of a gnat.

      For example, letting the dude get away with calling an entire group of people criminals and rapists because he followed it with "and some, I assume, are good".

      ...then there's allowing him to get away with flip-flopping on minimum wage 3 times in 3 days. [motherjones.com]
      It's clear that a USAian "hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest".
      USAian public schools exist to produce compliant laborers, not critical thinkers.

      Lamestream Media gets plenty of blame here as well.
      We had the fake news story here a while back where the gal showed up, wrote down what the Reactionary gov't officials said, and took it back to her TeeVee station which aired/published it without any actual investigation.

      Legacy media has become such crap.
      Ronnie Raygun's decision to stop enforcing the Fairness Doctrine (and O'Bummer's scrubbing it from the books) signaled to them that actual reporting/analysis is optional.
      ...and USAians still consume their crap.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:46PM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:46PM (#468936) Journal

        Is it that Americans have the attention span of a gnat or that most people do not hang on every word coming from hyperventilating TV reporters, because they have better things to do?

        There has arisen a conceit that those who do not buy into the media narrative are ignorant Philistines. To those who harbor that conceit i would counter that the "facts" used to construct that narrative are quite cherry-picked, and the narrative is purposeful, not objective or in any way "The TRUTH." If you believe it is, go and spend some time in a press department or major publication and think again.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @12:31AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 20 2017, @12:31AM (#469115)

          TV reporters

          As stated, Lamestream Media is a DUBIOUS source of information.
          As with anything where -profit- trumps all other considerations, they aren't really interesting in truth, just maximizing profits.

          Similar deal with "public" broadcasting where they are hanging on by their fingernails because of Neoliberal/Reactionary funding cuts.
          Those places have turned into just another source of corporate ads (even if they call those sponsorships/underwriting/whatever) and corporate propaganda.
          Actual criticism of a gov't which might, on a whim, further cut their funding is not to be expected either.

          The only broadcast model from which you should expect veracity is listener-funded/viewer-funded.

          Americans [...] have better things to do

          ...like consume "reality" TeeVee.

          major publication

          If USAians would invest a tiny bit of effort into locating one or more New Media outlets which aren't concentrating their efforts on making profits to pay for incredibly expensive office space and fancy furnishings and such, those USAians could quite easily find a bunch whose mission is veracity.

          Websites which monitor Lamestream Media and use multiple outlets as sources and CRITIQUE them when they go off the rails do supply a useful service and should be sought out.

          -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 19 2017, @05:51PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday February 19 2017, @05:51PM (#468996) Journal
        I don't dispute most of what you said, but it is intriguing what you choose to complain about.

        Ronnie Raygun's decision to stop enforcing the Fairness Doctrine (and O'Bummer's scrubbing it from the books) signaled to them that actual reporting/analysis is optional.

        The Fairness Doctrine is a violation of the First Amendment. So there are legal and reasonable grounds for getting rid of it. I allow that this may have contributed to a decline in the quality of news reporting, but in addition to these legal issues, I don't think quality of US journalism is any business of the governments of the US. That responsibility is solely of the viewer/reader who as you noted is apparently just fine with this crap.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @11:43PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @11:43PM (#469107)

          For-profit businesses do NOT have a right to the public airways.
          In the past, that privilege was -EARNED- via a commitment to operate "in the public interest".

          It's been decades since I have seen that commitment from for-profit broadcasters or from "public" broadcasters.

          I haven't done TeeVee for 8 years and have never thought that cable was worth the price they were asking for it.
          As such, I don't consume Free Speech TV, which I am given to believe is the rare example which DOES live up to that old standard.

          I do consume Pacific Radio which I know lives up to the standard.
          There's an open invitation to Reactionaries/Neoliberals to be guests.
          They know that they won't get away with the nonsense they do on Lamestream Media so, of course, as a rule they don't participate.

          Thom Hartmann sometimes gets a brave soul to appear.
          As you might expect from one of the smartest guys on radio/TV, he shreds their obsolete/dumb notions easily.
          Surprisingly, he occasionally agrees with a point made by one of the representatives of the Bourgeoisie.
          THAT is the kind of thing that -used- to happen in media (e.g. William Buckley and Gore Vidal).

          I don't think quality of US journalism is any business of the governments

          I view your model as a path to Fascism.
          I experience it daily when my "public" broadcasting Smooth Jazz station puts on their top of the hour "news" from the (Reactionary) Associated Press.
          If I'm quick, I can change the station before I'm exposed to too much unchallenged Fascist propaganda.

          -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 20 2017, @03:58PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 20 2017, @03:58PM (#469289) Journal

            For-profit businesses do NOT have a right to the public airways. In the past, that privilege was -EARNED- via a commitment to operate "in the public interest".

            The First Amendment doesn't make exceptions for privileges or the public interest.

            I don't think quality of US journalism is any business of the governments

            I view your model as a path to Fascism.

            And I have the opposite viewpoint. Fairness Doctrine is just another means of government control of private business and thus, another pathway to fascism.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:44AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 19 2017, @01:44AM (#468816)

    give is what people actually want: a bit of racism and protectionism.

    "Oh, look, it's a Nazi, Mom! Can I punch him in the face?"

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by zugedneb on Sunday February 19 2017, @02:09AM

      by zugedneb (4556) on Sunday February 19 2017, @02:09AM (#468824)

      ...if I take my own origin, and look at the history of my country, it is full with turmoil and blood.

      Before WW1 and 2, that was the last nail in the coffin, ther was the enromous sacrifice it took to push back the turks...

      And probably, the people who died protecting their land felt the same sorrow when "my" ancestors took it from them...

      All those people who payed for their land with their crimes and their despair.

      And then, today, it is all about the fucking jews who managed to get rich while countries got poor and bled out in these great conflicts...
      And they dare to complain, when killed in nations they have barely contributed to defend or take...

      For me, it would be the greatest honor in life to execute jews.
      Wimmin, children, old people, young people - does not matter to me...
      And the fucking people cheering for them, too...

      --
      old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 19 2017, @11:33PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday February 19 2017, @11:33PM (#469104) Journal

        And then, today, it is all about the fucking jews who managed to get rich while countries got poor and bled out in these great conflicts...

        Who are "the jews"? Why is there no distinction between the jews who "managed to get rich" and the many who managed to end up in a gas chamber instead? This is yet another situation where the many get blamed and punished for the vague, alleged actions of a few.

        Look you can be as racist as you want to be. I don't care. But punishment for crime or other evils should be based on what that person actually did wrong, not their membership in an unpopular ethnic, social, or economic group.

        • (Score: 1) by zugedneb on Monday February 20 2017, @05:30AM

          by zugedneb (4556) on Monday February 20 2017, @05:30AM (#469174)

          every entity with work related to domestic security and stability will agree with you.
          not.

          --
          old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 20 2017, @09:07AM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 20 2017, @09:07AM (#469214) Journal

            every entity with work related to domestic security and stability will agree with you.

            Why did you add "not" to that? For example, if your security consists of profiling and banning people from a region like the Middle East, then it is rather easy for criminal and terrorist groups to come up with fake identities for places that you do allow people from (like the Americas). In other words, a system heavily dependent on profiling only effectively blocks the honest people who can't adapt to the profiling. To consider a very specific and successful example, El Al does some degree of racial profiling [haaretz.com] (which does appear to greatly aid their security situation), but doesn't rely on it. Instead they have a deep, multi-layered security system that involves among other things, interviews with each passenger going on a plane. Interviews would be far more likely to catch people who are attempting to bypass security with fake identities or countries of origin than merely having some profiling system.

            Second, we're not speaking of risk, but of punishment. It simply is wrong to punish the whole for the crimes of a few. Blanket punishment also has a remarkable inability to actually target those who've allegedly done wrong. For example, the Rothschild family is frequently blamed for profiting from the First World War. Let's for the sake of argument take those accusations at face value.

            So how many of the family died for these alleged crimes during the course of the Second World War? According to Wikipedia, only one [wikipedia.org] who married into the family and did a couple of things to draw a target on herself (participate in espionage and cross the wife of a powerful Nazi politician in Vichy France). Apparently, most saw the writing on the wall and ran for it well before the Nazis invaded their parts of the world. The rest paid ransoms to escape.

            The poor jew of Poland didn't have anything to do with the military defeats of the First World War. Yet they did most of the dying [nationalww2museum.org].

            • (Score: 1) by zugedneb on Monday February 20 2017, @12:39PM

              by zugedneb (4556) on Monday February 20 2017, @12:39PM (#469243)

              the poor jews in poland can fuck themselves in the grave.
              they survived for hundreds of year by adapting. sure, they are good at it.

              but i say about them the same as i say about the so called victims of communism:
              they had the education and mandatory military service, and so the means to fight back.
              if u cant fight, die.

              wtf is this love for "the little people"? dont get it.

              --
              old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
              • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 20 2017, @04:24PM

                by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 20 2017, @04:24PM (#469296) Journal

                they survived for hundreds of year by adapting. sure, they are good at it.

                For 90% of Jews in Poland at the time of the Nazi invasion, they didn't adapt, they died. Who is good at surviving that sort of methodical extermination?

                they had the education and mandatory military service, and so the means to fight back.

                And? Is it ok to just take and destroy others because they don't fight back hard enough to stop you?

                wtf is this love for "the little people"? dont get it.

                Little people made the computer you typed on and maintained the complex infrastructure that connects you to the rest of the world. Little people make the food you eat. Little people made the world you live in often at the sacrifice of their own lives. The world as it is might not be that great, but it's not shit either.

                Little people also make the strong people. The powers of the last century existed only because they had many little people to use. A Stalin or a Hitler would be nothing without the tens of millions of followers backing their whims once again often at great sacrifice to themselves.

                Sure, it doesn't sound like you "love" or respect "little people" for doing all that. But respect is something you can learn.

                Also, let us keep in mind that this whole thread was about punishment not mere fighting. What exactly is the point of being harmed by one person for their gain and then fighting/killing someone else completely unrelated? The first person has still profited by their actions and you've done nothing to discourage them from trying again.

                • (Score: 1) by zugedneb on Monday February 20 2017, @07:03PM

                  by zugedneb (4556) on Monday February 20 2017, @07:03PM (#469379)

                  comon man... dont try to argue with me...
                  Hillary Clinton said in an interview: We Came, We Saw, He Died...
                  About Kadaffi i think...

                  I am just a simple ANN learning from adults in this world...

                  --
                  old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
                  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday February 20 2017, @08:06PM

                    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 20 2017, @08:06PM (#469409) Journal

                    I am just a simple ANN learning from adults in this world...

                    What makes them "adults"? The grotesque amorality of international politics really doesn't work at the human scale. And all these lessons of amoral or destructive power might make sense, if you're the next budding Genghis Khan and need some pro-tips to sharpen your game. But if you're just another nameless number, then you'll probably never have the power relevant for that lesson.

                    • (Score: 1) by zugedneb on Tuesday February 21 2017, @08:27AM

                      by zugedneb (4556) on Tuesday February 21 2017, @08:27AM (#469620)

                      time and time agains i tell people that the same rules applie to man, as animals.
                      when resourecs are abundant -> overpopulation.
                      when resources are scarce -> die, or kill.

                      that is why there is nothing wrong with ourging the jews or gipsys or whatever minority u happen to find annoying in your country. there is not enough for all.

                      i am just toying with you. just want to see how far this sensible and mature way of reasoning actually takes you from the thruth.

                      by the way, it is not the little people that makes the computer i use, as you put it some time age.
                      in a lot of engineers, the curse that makes a soldier is present in them too.
                      the mechanism that unlinks the self from the mind so that you can sink into a problem soo deep that yyou forget hunger, the self, and emotions dont disturb you.
                      these type of prople are called "agents" and "units", not "little people".

                      tired of talkig to you. you just do not represent enought of history and reallity. probably you are a good parent and a good friend, but also an idiot.

                      --
                      old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
                      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday February 21 2017, @08:47AM

                        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday February 21 2017, @08:47AM (#469625) Journal

                        time and time agains i tell people that the same rules applie to man, as animals. when resourecs are abundant -> overpopulation. when resources are scarce -> die, or kill.

                        Yet in the developed world, with the highest abundance of resources, we have negative population growth among second or further generation residents. The rules aren't applying.

                        • (Score: 1) by zugedneb on Tuesday February 21 2017, @09:28AM

                          by zugedneb (4556) on Tuesday February 21 2017, @09:28AM (#469631)

                          yes, indeed...
                          but these times are more like the end of history, where we reach the technology to modify ourselves, and leave it all, for whatever is to come.
                          you can not call these times a "typical slice", yes?

                          now, that the wimmin are free, and do what they want, and the man have anime and waifus, there is no more need for physical comfort of others, so maybe not as many situations lead to sex and impregnation, yes?
                          or other things are true?
                          people seem fight for religions, but also seem to believe less. maybe they really see, that is is frightening to make children? difficult to raise and lot of responsibility?
                          there are no more norms that require core families, and no more gods to believe in...

                          then, there is agent Smith. a man of pure mind and understanding, but little heart.
                          the white race has changed, others i do not know that much about.

                          anyways, there are more aspects of this than a simple troll like can list...

                          --
                          old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax