and, of course, you are also assuming that governments and bureacracies (paid for by the taxpayer) have the right to withold information"
----
Finnet in my various jobs I've had access from restricted to secret. Most of it boring & god knows why the public would bother showing any interest e.g. weapons, tactics, procedures, diplomatic cables & funding issues when I was at treasury.
I havent spent too much time dwelling on the why's & wherefores of the cloak n dagger stuff. I assume once info is in the public arena its hard to control. So while the Australian taxpayer may have a right to some of this material, how do you stop it ending in chinese or indo or kiwi hands?
We have FOI processes for the less sensitive information kept by govts.
As for the more sensitive stuff, its all about "need to know"... ie the public dont need to know about many things that keep them safe at night.
