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If millions of people know something, can it really be considered a secret anymore? That’s one of the questions at the heart of an ongoing debate in Washington about how much, and which, documents to classify in the age of Wikileaks, iPhones, and Edward Snowden.
That challenge, underscored by Mr. Snowden’s leaks of details exposing the National Security Agency’s top-secret surveillance programs, has given transparency experts new hope that they can help intelligence agencies take advantage of new thinking around classification to ensure that what needs to be secret stays secret.
“The calculation has changed recently, because a single individual, either out of negligence or malice or some other motive, can disclose whole libraries of records,” says Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy. “That’s something the government has not yet figured out how to deter or prevent.”
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 27 2017, @02:19AM
"Would you want to give the other side all the info on what you're _capable_ of providing,"
Maybe there should be a "not" included in that question. Few negotiations attempt to hide what your capable of doing. Hiding what you're NOT capable of doing is usually hidden. Take Microsoft, for example. They are not capable of producing a truly secure operating system, and they don't want you to understand that fact.
Take automakers, as another example. They aren't capable of building a very fast, very powerful sports car that is also economical. But, they are constantly trying to pass off something shiny as a sports car.
For the most part, negotiators WANT the other side to think that my side is capable of much more than we really are capable of.
Also, take note of AC's comment on separation of business and state. We are in a situation, today, where the government will screw us all over, to help Big Business to make a little more profit. Net neutrality, anyone?