Skip to comments.
Website turns tables on government officials
Boston Globe ^
| 7/4/2003
| Hiawatha Bray
Posted on 07/05/2003 2:15:14 PM PDT by DannyTN
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:10:26 AM PDT by Jim Robinson.
[history]
Annoyed by the prospect of a massive new federal surveillance system, two researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are celebrating the Fourth of July with a new Internet service that will let citizens create dossiers on government officials.
The system will start by offering standard background information on politicians, but then go one bold step further, by asking Internet users to submit their own intelligence reports on government officials -- reports that will be published with no effort to verify their accuracy.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.boston.com ...
TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: privacy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-59 next last
Sounds like a great idea to me. I think they should have a sortable label for every post by the issues they affect (abortion, gun control, etc), whether it's a (speech, vote, or action) and whether they take a conservative or liberal stance.
Therefore if you wanted to see what a politician said, did or voted about issue #25, you can get a quick snapshot.
1
posted on
07/05/2003 2:15:14 PM PDT
by
DannyTN
To: DannyTN
Chris CsikszentmihalyiMust have sucked to have been him in first grade.
2
posted on
07/05/2003 2:19:05 PM PDT
by
ItsBacon
(I smell bacon! Where's the bacon? baconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbacon)
To: DannyTN
GReat idea. They can call it FReeRepublic.com.
3
posted on
07/05/2003 2:21:02 PM PDT
by
AdA$tra
(Tagline maintenance in progress......)
To: ItsBacon
Must have sucked to have been him in first grade. LOL, you need an MIT degree just to be able to pronounce that.
4
posted on
07/05/2003 2:21:04 PM PDT
by
DannyTN
(Note left on my door by a pack of neighborhood dogs.)
To: DannyTN
...reports that will be published with no effort to verify their accuracy. I wonder if these guys think politicians can't sue for libel.
To: DannyTN
Very Interesting J
(Little brother takes on Big brother)
Could make for some interesting reading
6
posted on
07/05/2003 2:28:58 PM PDT
by
Fiddlstix
(~~~ http://www.ourgangnet.net ~~~~~)
To: DannyTN
Imagine what a pain the ass life would be for all those federal judges and officials having protestors camped outside their own homes & businesses.
7
posted on
07/05/2003 2:30:51 PM PDT
by
Rodsomnia
To: The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
Good luck tracking down anonymous posters when the sysop refuses to cooperate!
8
posted on
07/05/2003 2:32:30 PM PDT
by
thoughtomator
(Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?)
To: ItsBacon
Really! I started to read his name but my mind blanked out on the third or fourth syllable.
9
posted on
07/05/2003 2:36:16 PM PDT
by
dljordan
To: The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
I doubt they are worried about it...
libel lawsuits, are only a threat, when the accusations are false.
I rather doubt there are many accusations that can be made against most politicians and governmental bureaucrats, that are not true on some level... no matter how despicable.
Were libel a true threat on intenet posting boards... a LOT of freepers would have gone to jail during the cliton era...
To: thoughtomator
or when codbase hackers, develop some more "complicated" multithreaded proxies that forge multipler legitimate IP headers...
and make it readily available for download...
100's of dollars to implement and make widely available...
Multiple BILLIONS of dollars to try and defeat... on an ongoing basis.
To: dljordan
Chick-sent-mih-hall-yee.
To: The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
I wonder if these guys think politicians can't sue for libel.There is no effort made, and no opportunity for us to correct, incorrect information within our own TIA files. The files are "secret" and un-appealable. Consider all the non-terrorists who keep getting flagged and searched at airports.
To: Rodsomnia
how many of the closet homos will be outed?
how many will be subject to false accusations?
how many will have to say the truth to silence the false accusation?
To: coloradan
The files are "secret" and un-appealable. Yes. Secret. As opposed to published.
To: DannyTN
Politicians should have access to those data as well. This is only fair in face of Freedom of Information Act.
16
posted on
07/05/2003 3:16:48 PM PDT
by
A. Pole
To: The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
Yes. Secret. As opposed to published.
Published for government officials, not for the public. A real turnaround would be to make these off limits to government officials so they couldn't review what others are writing about them.
17
posted on
07/05/2003 3:17:01 PM PDT
by
Arkinsaw
To: The Hon. Galahad Threepwood
Ever since the Sullivan v. NY Times decision, its very hard for a public figure to win a libel suit.
18
posted on
07/05/2003 3:30:00 PM PDT
by
Maximum Leader
(run from a knife, close on a gun)
To: Maximum Leader
Plus I think there was a recent decision that put the due dilligence standard for blogs much lower than for commercial press.
19
posted on
07/05/2003 4:19:23 PM PDT
by
eno_
To: A. Pole
"Politicians should have access to those data as well. This is only fair in face of Freedom of Information Act. "hmmmm...yes, but shouldn't they be stonewalled first and then have to sue before they are given it?
20
posted on
07/05/2003 4:20:36 PM PDT
by
DannyTN
(Note left on my door by a pack of neighborhood dogs.)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-59 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson