3 ms·

This leak Does serve the public good, if the public surrounding these vital targets learn that these locations are vital. Instead of being ignorant bystanders

This leak Does serve the public good, if the public surrounding these vital targets learn that these locations are vital. Instead of being ignorant bystanders who think it's "just a factory"; they'll know that it is a Vital factory, and that suspicious activity around it should be reported. Whenever I'm in a train station I hear about how important I am, as a civilian, to security and that I should report suspicious bags. Couldn't the government take that attitude to the next level?

natrius 16y ago
You're assuming that the benefit from the public knowing about the facilities is greater than the detriment. That isn't necessarily the case, and it's unlikely to be the case in my opinion. The train station analogy is flawed. Train stations are targets because they're train stations. Security through obscurity isn't possible. If this leak is somehow beneficial, how would you feel about a leak of the identities of all covert agents? The public would know who they're paying to do certain kinds of work, but I'm sure we can agree that it would have a negative effect overall. I think this situation is similar, although the information is easier to deduce.
krschultz 16y ago
I think you have made the only solid argument backing the leak of this specific document that I've seen, so thank you for that. I do agree that can be helpful. I just wonder how many things that weren't targets yesterday are now targets today. I live near a nuclear powerplant, but I wouldn't necessarily consider it a target because it is just one of hundreds, why target this one? I'm sure there is security on it, but I don't worry about it much. But what if it was on the list and it said that it was critical for the distribution of power in the whole northeast region because there is a flaw in the power distribution system. Now this relatively obscure nuclear plant is high on the list of targets and its security has to be increased a lot. The same goes for chemical plants, oil refineries, etc. Can you tell me which one of the hundreds of DuPont factories manufactures chemicals for weapon systems and which ones manufactur nylon for disposable table clothes? Probably not before this leak, but I bet you can guess it now. I don't see why that is helpful to anybody. I would have been suspicious of people snooping around any chemical factory, but now all of a sudden the terrorists can hit the most valuable one. To me, that is pretty lame.

natrius 16y ago

You're assuming that the benefit from the public knowing about the facilities is greater than the detriment. That isn't necessarily the case, and it's unlikely to be the case in my opinion. The train station analogy is flawed. Train stations are targets because they're train stations. Security through obscurity isn't possible. If this leak is somehow beneficial, how would you feel about a leak of the identities of all covert agents? The public would know who they're paying to do certain kinds of work, but I'm sure we can agree that it would have a negative effect overall. I think this situation is similar, although the information is easier to deduce.

krschultz 16y ago

I think you have made the only solid argument backing the leak of this specific document that I've seen, so thank you for that. I do agree that can be helpful. I just wonder how many things that weren't targets yesterday are now targets today. I live near a nuclear powerplant, but I wouldn't necessarily consider it a target because it is just one of hundreds, why target this one? I'm sure there is security on it, but I don't worry about it much. But what if it was on the list and it said that it was critical for the distribution of power in the whole northeast region because there is a flaw in the power distribution system. Now this relatively obscure nuclear plant is high on the list of targets and its security has to be increased a lot. The same goes for chemical plants, oil refineries, etc. Can you tell me which one of the hundreds of DuPont factories manufactures chemicals for weapon systems and which ones manufactur nylon for disposable table clothes? Probably not before this leak, but I bet you can guess it now. I don't see why that is helpful to anybody. I would have been suspicious of people snooping around any chemical factory, but now all of a sudden the terrorists can hit the most valuable one. To me, that is pretty lame.