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 …

Be Worried About Brazil’s Tantrum

If the United States Can’t Make Friends With Brasilia, Who Can We Get To Join Our Club?

It has become one of the clichés of American diplomacy: The United States welcomes the rise of new powers and wants them to continue rising—especially when those new powers are …

The Wounds Left By Surveillance

The Stasi Has Been Gone Over Two Decades. Germans Still Haven't Come To Terms With It.

There were a few things the Stasi never found out about me. One was the mini-laboratory.

I was a Lutheran pastor and underground environmental activist in the German Democratic Republic, and …