Ececticology wrote:
The proposal to watch who's watching which page is
the kind of thing
that's worthy of an aspiring KGB or CIA agent. The potential for
mischief is too high. I want to be on the record as absolutely against it.
Not at all! Secret agents are useful only for information
that is /not/ publicly available. If watchlists were public,
then all of the CIA agents presently employed in ferreting them out
would lose their jobs.
For a real-life example, the USA PATRIOT Act
allows the FBI to look at US library records --
but it does /not/ make those records public to everybody!
John Ashcroft wouldn't like that hypothetical situation at all;
because if terrorists/dissidents knew what was available,
then they would take care to make sure that it was harmless.
-- Toby