Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Is transparency always a good thing?

Transparency is not always the best olution for government.Not something that journalists necessarily want to hear.

Lawrence Lessig writes in New Republic recounts that

In 2006, the Sunlight Foundation launched a campaign to get members of Congress to post their daily calendars on the Internet. "The Punch-Clock Campaign" collected pledges from ninety-two candidates for Congress, and one of them was elected.
but he considers that

We are not thinking critically enough about where and when transparency works, and where and when it may lead to confusion, or to worse. And I fear that the inevitable success of this movement--if pursued alone, without any sensitivity to the full complexity of the idea of perfect openness--will inspire not reform, but disgust. The "naked transparency movement," as I will call it here, is not going to inspire change. It will simply push any faith in our political system over the cliff.

Lessons for home perhaps?

Ht-Robin Hamman

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