Haiko Lietz wrote:
Non-public mailing lists are an obstruction of
free press? In Germany we have a code for different types of information:
1: You may use the given information naming the source.
2: You may use the given information without naming the source.
3: You may not use the given information.
In the US we have no such constraints. If someone
leaks information to Krivit, Krivit can publish
it anywhere he wants. He would only be
constrained if he had signed a nondisclosure
agreement (NDA), which is a contractual agreement not to discuss information.
He would be under an informal restraint if
someone told him (at a press conference let us
say) "this is off the record" or "please don't
repeat this but . . ." That cannot be legally
enforced. However, when reporters publish things
that people ask them not to publish, they are
soon frozen out. No one tells them anything.
As for me, I am not a reporter, and I do not want
to hear any secrets. I am only interested in
hearing information people want to share. Secrets
are overrated. I have heard many secrets in
business and in cold fusion and most of them were
common knowledge that the speaker mistakenly
thought was secret, or they were useless
nonsense. Mistakes, nonsense, naïveté and bad
judgment thrive in secrecy. That's one of the
many lessons the history of the Bush
administration has taught us, but you will find
countless other examples in history.
- Jed
