Democracy

In response to a website alleging that Enron owns the GOP, the Republican party of Texas threatened to sue for "copyright infringement." This is only one of hundreds of cases in which corporate and political heavyweights have used legal threats to intimidate legitimate speech on the Internet.

During the heady late 1990s, Wall Street investment firms and bankers deliberately hyped Internet startup companies with no prospect of financial success, bilking countless small investors out of their money. This PBS documentary explains how it all worked, from the "roadshows" used to line up initial capital to the strategy of launching a new company, watch its stock price spike, and selling before the inevitable downturn (known within the trade as "flipping").

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, several state Legislatures have considered or passed measures restricting access to government records or facilities. In Presstime, a public of the National Newspaper Association, Joe Adams writes, "State lawmakers are closing public records at an alarming pace, often without even a shrug from those with the most to lose -- ordinary citizens. ... In state after state, lawmakers use privacy concerns as a blanket license to shutter records long thought to be safe from exemption.

If you want to know if any toxic wastes dumps are near where you might soon buy a home, you can no longer find out. If you want to know just what is really being done to keep nuclear power plants safe, you can no longer find out. If you are interested in the design and construction of dams, you probably will not be able to get any information about them from the government any more. If you want to visit the reading rooms provided by many government agencies, such as the IRS, you now must make an appointment, and you will be chaperoned.