Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by greentxt 520 days ago
It costs the VA money they could use to youknow be saving veterans lives with? That is the "explain to a five year old" tier reason. There are a lot of other reasons too besides that, but the simple one for you should suffice.
3 comments
mike_d 520 days ago
They are required by law to provide the data, and freely give it to Ancestry.com and the like.

You could argue they also shouldn't spend any money on computer security, investigating internal sexual harassment cases, or patching holes in their parking lot because that is just taking away money that could be used on veterans.

link
WarOnPrivacy 520 days ago
> It costs the VA money they could use to youknow be saving veterans lives with?

As someone who was the direct caregiver (guardian, POA) of a vet for 25 years, this assertion seems imagined.

It certainly doesn't reflect the factors that determine quality of care in the VA - that is, the factors that differentiate care between Tampa Bay's VA (very good) and Wichita or Atlanta (problematic).

link
_DeadFred_ 520 days ago
Ah the government LOVES using that excuse to hide from sunlight. "I'm sorry we can't honor this FOIA request because it would be too expensive, money we could use on better things."

I'm sorry, but freedom isn't free. That includes a cost to have visibility into the government. Making special rules on 'what visibly' also just ends up getting abused like the 'expense'.

This is what freedom looks like.

link