[citation][nom]Ridik876[/nom]Be more transparent? The Government is cataloging information that is being put on IT'S OWN PAGE! You put a comment on the White House's Facebook page and you need a press release telling you that they can see it? Grow up.[/citation]
So I know that this whole article is concerned with facebook, youtube, twitter, etc., but come on this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you honestly believe that the government is in fact being transparent with the people it "represents", then you need to get out more often. I don't believe that the government has been transparent in a very long while. Money and power do not work well with transparency...
Here is the problem with the situation this article suggests...
People find out that the government is keeping record of everything being said or debated on these sites. So now the people that disagree with government and its polices will stop writing what they actually think for fear of unknown consequences (I say it like that because who knows what the hell anyone would want with all of those comments, blogs, whatever).
So then you get one side of argument on these sites: the side that is for the government. This is just another attempt at doing away with any kind of government opposition (just like dismissing tea parties and town hall meetings as "senseless mobs working for the right wing"). Facebook and youtube pages may not seem like a big deal, but it's all part of a grander scheme.
Now, if Mr_Man is right about this, and the government just wants to take note of people's thoughts, then ya that's a good thing. I mean the government is supposed to be representing the people that vote. But do they really need some radical republican or democrat comments to let them know what people want? I think there are plenty of polls, surveys, votes, town hall meetings, phone calls to representatives, etc. that tell the government what's on people's minds.
My view: this is just another attempt to warn people not to oppose the government on their own sites, because they are making a sly threat to somehow hold that information against you.