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I think I understand where you're coming from. It comes down to motive for identification. When 4chan/reddit decide to dox some poor stranger, it usually has sp

by arh68 13y ago

I think I understand where you're coming from. It comes down to motive for identification. When 4chan/reddit decide to dox some poor stranger, it usually has specific intent: ruin their life, or get revenge. This is bad. When gov't orgs keep docs on people, it becomes very important to be clear on what their motives are. Are they doing it to avoid disasters? If so, good. Are they doing it to criminalize, to build evidence against (strictly against, and never for), to prosecute & convict? If so, it could be okay (as long as the law is fair, etc). Or are they doing it to specifically marginalize these people, to restrict their freedom (like their freedom to file FOIAs)? In this case, the author didn't present any call to action. This is good. I hope nobody throws eggs at any houses, but I don't think this link promoted anything like that. More to the point, the request specifically how being on such a list affects processing requests from listed requesters. This would very much clarify & resolve the questions above.

jack-r-abbit 13y ago
Yes, the link itself is just to the request/response info so it is presented without comment. But in the last few months, how many submissions to HN about the FBI, NSA, etc have been of the "cool... look at all the good these people are doing" variety? Not (m)any. While I did make the assumption that this submission was of the "holy shit look what they're up to now" type... I don't think it was too presumptuous to think the submitter was expecting people to be outraged about it (but not calling for people to throw eggs, per se). I am curious what they use the list for. If it was used to set their future requests to a lower priority, I'm fine with that as long as the request gets fulfilled according to the requirements. If they just dust binned their future requests then I'd have issue with that. If they sent SWAT to their houses for no other reason than "excessive" FOIA requests then we'd have a real big problem. It kind of looks like it is for collecting fees... which is kind of boring.

by arh68 13y ago

jack-r-abbit 13y ago

Yes, the link itself is just to the request/response info so it is presented without comment. But in the last few months, how many submissions to HN about the FBI, NSA, etc have been of the "cool... look at all the good these people are doing" variety? Not (m)any. While I did make the assumption that this submission was of the "holy shit look what they're up to now" type... I don't think it was too presumptuous to think the submitter was expecting people to be outraged about it (but not calling for people to throw eggs, per se). I am curious what they use the list for. If it was used to set their future requests to a lower priority, I'm fine with that as long as the request gets fulfilled according to the requirements. If they just dust binned their future requests then I'd have issue with that. If they sent SWAT to their houses for no other reason than "excessive" FOIA requests then we'd have a real big problem. It kind of looks like it is for collecting fees... which is kind of boring.