On the importance of anonymity (in regards to the whistleblower project): Last week, the Houston Chronicle ran two or three articles on how ill run the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is. Specifically, the article described how one or two people had their careers absolutely ruined by raising safety concerns at nuclear plants. In each case, the employees involved were terminated shortly after citing safety hazards (such as spills left uncleaned on table tops, etc.) Someone quoted in the article stated this behavior undoubtedly scares off other potential informers. Plus, I read an article in the Chronicle about how a NASA employee was fired for his political beliefs. Well, it is more complicated: the employee actively participated in some usenet group (talk.politics.china?), and had a store of back articles on his computer at work, which his superiors discovered. Shortly thereafter, he lost his job. I've been busy of late and could kick myself for not saving these papers, because real world incidents such as these strengthen our arguments for privacy and anonymity. Some people have such an irritating tendency to assume irresponsibility and abuse when a freedom becomes available - just read news.admin.policy. /-----------------------------------\ | Karl L. Barrus | | elee9sf@menudo.uh.edu | <- preferred address | barrus@tree.egr.uh.edu (NeXTMail) | \-----------------------------------/