[WikiEN-l] Re: ALERT: Idea for new feature: "Who's watching this page?"

Wed Oct 22 04:03:35 UTC 2003

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