

Leaked memos reveal GCHQ efforts to keep mass surveillance secret - wlj
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/25/leaked-memos-gchq-mass-surveillance-secret-snowden

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malandrew
I honestly don't understand why it is even legal for government agencies to
spend taxpayer money on jobs like public relations and trying to keep things
out of the public or distort how things are perceived by the public.

I pay taxes so those people can do the job they are tasked to do. I don't pay
taxes so those people can spend time trying to finesse how the job they are
doing is viewed by the public or pay someone else to do the same with my tax
dollars.

It would be nice if when memos like these crossed someones desk that they were
viewed with the same suspicion as bringing up age or gender issues in hiring
processes. Like gender issues and age, trying to keep public policy from being
publicly debated is not only orthogonal to their job, it is damaging to the
public interest.

Seriously, can we pass some laws prohibiting any behavior where officials
trying to keep things from being debated publicly because the public will not
approve. To allow them to continue with their self-serving hidden policies is
antithetical to the notion of a democracy or republic.

