Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by wheels 6199 days ago
I suspect it's not about the government or the press -- it's about the specifics. If NYT had written the Wikipedia folks and said, "Don't add this information, it compromises our security." they'd have been laughed at. If they say, "There's this specific guy, and this specific information, and we think there's a good chance if you say this it'll do this bad thing to him." it's another story. I think the government would probably be able to make a similar appeal. "Bob might get killed." is a lot more actionable than "National security might be compromised."
1 comments

Perhaps. I'm not a fan of any recent administration or the Times but that argument strikes me even more ironic considering that the Times' ethics (as presented on and off the editorial page) has always been in favor of violating the rights/security of individuals in favor of "groups."