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    FridayFridayJohn Cook
    3/21/14 6:27pm

    Have you ever redacted something?

    I have. It's one thing I get to do occasionally for my job. I work for a consulting firm and sometimes prospective clients request sample reports, so they can see what they'll be getting before they pay big bucks for it. So I go through an old report and comb over it, taking out any identifying information or anything they shouldn't be getting for free.

    It is really freaking fun, in a weird way. Like la-da-da, you get blacked out, and you get blacked out, and they aren't getting you, my pretty little piece of data!

    My point here is it's easy to see how one could get carried away.

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      MarcabExpatFridayFriday
      3/21/14 10:46pm

      I can't believe somebody said this, and I understood it, but yeah, I used to love redacting. It's something that's unreasonably fun, like cleaning the dryer lint screen. It sucks to do it with hard copy and a sharpie, but zapping those neat little blocks in Acrobat felt for some reason like playing an old-style arcade game. Pew, pew, pew!

      Of course, I was redacting identifying medical information from research data, so I didn't have a problem with feeling all righteous about it.

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      FridayFridayMarcabExpat
      3/21/14 10:55pm

      Haha, good to know I'm not alone!

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    ThewalkingdudeJohn Cook
    3/21/14 4:55pm

    It turns out that a lot of government work is just fucking around...

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      TuckerpaulThewalkingdude
      3/21/14 4:59pm

      Like most office work?

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      BestAtNothingThewalkingdude
      3/21/14 5:01pm

      Employee of the Canadian Government here. Nail on the head.

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    aismoJohn Cook
    3/21/14 5:09pm

    FOIA might have its snags and issues, but damn it is a pretty good tool for retrieving information people don't want to give you. I've made a mockery of a cop in court using it, and it was a glorious feeling.

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      cheerful_exgirlfriendaismo
      3/21/14 5:16pm

      Can you tell us more of that story?

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      larryherkimeraismo
      3/21/14 5:19pm

      Radiolab has a great episode called 'Neither confirm nor deny' that discusses some of the origin of FOIA and how the 'neither confirm nor deny' language came about.

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    Jerry-NetherlandJohn Cook
    3/21/14 5:02pm

    Powell is correct. The lack of self-awareness exhibited by their choice of film oeuvre in which to frame this is staggering. The execution within said oeuvre is just bad.

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      aztecprincessJerry-Netherland
      1/09/15 4:06pm

      Sir, you are no Sydney Greenstreet. Sir, you are no Humphrey Bogart. Ma'am, you are no Mary Astor.

      This is what happens when bureaucrats get creative.

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    BlanksheetJohn Cook
    3/21/14 5:11pm

    (In Edward G. Robinson voice): The people have a right to know, see? We as the greatest country in the world ensure free speech, see? But man is a brute, see? He will take what you and I consider important information, see?, and he will use it to his own ends, see? Sure, he will most often use it to advance himself, see? but all it takes is for one man, see?, one evil man to decide the information is worth blowing people up or undermining our government that protects us, see?, and then you have chaos, man's natural condition, see?, that he worked so hard to overcome, see?, that he created civilization to try to suppress, see? And we, as guardians of man's better angels, as loyal employees of the United States government, we must do everything in our power to make sure that such information doesn't come out, see?, doesn't ruin the America we love, see? So that you can take your little Johnny to a baseball game and buy him a dog with all the fixins', see? without having to worry about some socialist anarchist getting hold of information that will destroy us all. See? God Bless America. (takes out cigar, huffs patriotically)

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      BlanksheetBlanksheet
      3/21/14 5:19pm

      Now I regret making this comment. Carry on.

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      so hgfddcbghnmmBlanksheet
      3/21/14 9:30pm

      Fuck off, see?

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    Cam/ronJohn Cook
    3/21/14 5:02pm

    I've never felt prouder to be an American taxpayer, especially with April 15 around the corner.

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      lobstrJohn Cook
      3/22/14 12:39pm

      I like how they half-ass made the train station look period-1940s, what with the modern "Tensa-Barrier" rope and plexiglass-covered signs in the background.. fuckers didn't even try..

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        EL34John Cook
        3/21/14 5:20pm

        On an unrelated note: It's nice to still have you here with us for a few more posts, Mr. Cook.

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          GregSamsaJohn Cook
          3/21/14 5:35pm

          When is Penthouse doing the porn parody? "This Ain't The People's Right to Know"?

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            deadkittensGregSamsa
            3/21/14 5:37pm

            The People's Right to Blow.

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          MarcabExpatJohn Cook
          3/21/14 5:44pm

          Wow, somebody in the Pentagon watched way too much early MTV.

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