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On Wed, 2007-10-17 at 03:17 +0100, Mike Martin wrote: > On 16/10/2007, Ralph Smithen <ralph_smithen@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Hi, > > > > sorry for the off-topic post but I think this is important. There's a > > petition to support the Prohibition of Deception Bill. > > > > sign here > > http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/2accountabilty/ > > > > text of bill here > > http://www.ministry-of-truth.net/documentation/MoTActPDF.pdf > > > > see who's voting for and against > > http://ministry-of-truth.net/mpscoreboard.php > Despite some MP's I respect (a very dwindling band) supporting this, I > consider this to be very dangerous > > 1. It fails to differentiate between members of parliament and members > of the government which group do you think should be allowed to deceive us with impunity? > 2. Does not distinguish between party and government the measure refers to an "elected representative of the people" - entities like "state" and "government" have no soul to save, and no body to incarcerate > 3. How do you distinguish a lie from difference of interpretation trial by jury, once probable cause is established > 4. Often lies are justified for very good reasons there are enough planted journalists working to MI5 or MI6 briefs without our public servants being mouthpieces for propaganda > 5. The whole thing is made meaningless by exception 5 - national > security which lets off the very people that should be held to account > ie: members of the government refusing to answer questions that may threaten national security is of course still permitted > > To me a good example of idea that sounds fine in theory, but which on > further examination is not neccesarily a good thing > I think that now with open intelligence resources and collaborative research at our disposal, accountability becomes a possible, good and, yes, neccesary thing -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html