Transparency Is Not Accountability
Technology Can Expose Surveillance and Government Sins, But You Need Humans to Fix Them
The National Security Agency, in its surveillance, is unaccountable. But we don’t know what to do about it. Why?
At a recent meeting on Capitol Hill, a young Congressional staffer offered the answer. He said: People think that tweeting or commenting online about the surveillance is actually doing something to hold the surveillance accountable. In other words, we’re confused about the connection between transparency and accountability. We haven’t defined the difference between using this era’s technological tools to shine a light on how government works and using this era’s technological tools …