"Is that really a broken system or just a few bad apples?"
The state was built to serve the interest of the general public and yet today does not produce the necessary signals to indicate it is functioning correctly to that purpose. We are experiencing asymmetric information:
* the state holds whatever privileged data it wishes for the length of time and purpose that it finds appropriate within the law and determines whether to reveal or withhold this data at present or some future date
* the state also determines the correct interpretation of the laws in court orders, position papers and executive orders -- and these orders can also be considered privileged data, so the same principle applies about whether to reveal or withhold this data from the public
* any indiscretions in the use of that privileged data by the state may or may or may not be detected by the state itself and, if detected and as it pertains to privileged information that may or may not be known to be held by the general public, the news of this detection and optional remediation may or may not be later revealed to the general public
* any successes by the state cannot be audited outside of the state itself, so the general public is reduced to the hope that the results were satisfactory and correct
Yes, I would argue that the current system is broken.
The state was built to serve the interest of the general public and yet today does not produce the necessary signals to indicate it is functioning correctly to that purpose. We are experiencing asymmetric information:
* the state holds whatever privileged data it wishes for the length of time and purpose that it finds appropriate within the law and determines whether to reveal or withhold this data at present or some future date
* the state also determines the correct interpretation of the laws in court orders, position papers and executive orders -- and these orders can also be considered privileged data, so the same principle applies about whether to reveal or withhold this data from the public
* any indiscretions in the use of that privileged data by the state may or may or may not be detected by the state itself and, if detected and as it pertains to privileged information that may or may not be known to be held by the general public, the news of this detection and optional remediation may or may not be later revealed to the general public
* any successes by the state cannot be audited outside of the state itself, so the general public is reduced to the hope that the results were satisfactory and correct
Yes, I would argue that the current system is broken.