4 ms·

ethics and time constraints. whistleblowing and radical transparency aren't the same thing; every whistleblower has a different reason for doing so and spreadin

by tribby 8y ago

ethics and time constraints. whistleblowing and radical transparency aren't the same thing; every whistleblower has a different reason for doing so and spreading all available information is just one possible desired outcome. one of the reasons snowden sent his information to journalists was to remove his own biases from the process -- he wanted journalists to help go through it all, determine what was in the public interest, what could be unnecessarily damaging, etc. he wouldn't have had time to do that himself before being caught. this is in stark contrast to documents found on wikileaks for example that contain social security numbers and other sensitive information completely unrelated to the thing the whistle is being blown on.

antpls 8y ago
> one of the reasons snowden sent his information to journalists was to remove his own biases to be part of the process -- he wanted journalists to help go through it all, determine what was in the public interest, what could be unnecessarily damaging, etc. Now, you introduced biases from the journalists, which is arguably not better. Journalists could be influenced or controled by states or other parties, and then surely control a part of public opinion. (See the scandal with the Tesla employee who sent data to a reporter from Business Insider, and that reporter is then accused of being systematically biased against Tesla) > this is in stark contrast to documents found on wikileaks for example that contain social security numbers and other sensitive information completely unrelated to the thing the whistle is being blown on. That's a better argument to me.
- tribby 8y ago
  > Now, you introduced biases from the journalists, which is arguably not better. Journalists could be influenced or controled by states or other parties, and then surely control a part of public opinion. sure, but he significantly reduced that risk by going to a number of journalists working for different organizations in different countries, creating a disincentive for any single publisher to become known as the one that publishes misinformation. I agree there's a stronger argument against radical transparency than there is in favor of intermediaries, but whistleblowing is realistically never going to be a scenario in which the circumstance or timing is perfect... going to journalists is a good solution, not a magic one.

by tribby 8y ago

antpls 8y ago

> one of the reasons snowden sent his information to journalists was to remove his own biases to be part of the process -- he wanted journalists to help go through it all, determine what was in the public interest, what could be unnecessarily damaging, etc. Now, you introduced biases from the journalists, which is arguably not better. Journalists could be influenced or controled by states or other parties, and then surely control a part of public opinion. (See the scandal with the Tesla employee who sent data to a reporter from Business Insider, and that reporter is then accused of being systematically biased against Tesla) > this is in stark contrast to documents found on wikileaks for example that contain social security numbers and other sensitive information completely unrelated to the thing the whistle is being blown on. That's a better argument to me.

tribby 8y ago
> Now, you introduced biases from the journalists, which is arguably not better. Journalists could be influenced or controled by states or other parties, and then surely control a part of public opinion. sure, but he significantly reduced that risk by going to a number of journalists working for different organizations in different countries, creating a disincentive for any single publisher to become known as the one that publishes misinformation. I agree there's a stronger argument against radical transparency than there is in favor of intermediaries, but whistleblowing is realistically never going to be a scenario in which the circumstance or timing is perfect... going to journalists is a good solution, not a magic one.