13 Mar 2006
Bill Could Restrict Freedom of the Press

How dare we allow mere citizens to know what the government is doing? Why, if we let the plebes in on the secrets, next thing you know they'll want some say in who runs the show, and how much it costs! No, we couldn't allow that!

If this law had been on the books in 1972, the Watergate scandal never would've happened. Well, OK, it would've happened, but nobody know about it, because instead of a Pulitzer Prize Woodward and Bernstein would've gotten 5 to 10 in Allentown.

The Washington Post is carrying an article about a disturbing Senate bill that could make it illegal to publicly disclose even the existence of US domestic spying programs (i.e. NSA wiretaps). An aide to the bill's author assures us it's not aimed at reporters, but the language is ambiguous at best. From the article: "Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the measure is broader than any existing laws. She said, for example, the language does not specify that the information has to be harmful to national security or classified. 'The bill would make it a crime to tell the American people that the president is breaking the law, and the bill could make it a crime for the newspapers to publish that fact,' said Martin, a civil liberties advocate."

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