By making everything secure [governments] have degraded the quality of secrecy. - Heather Brooke

In elementary school, I loved Show and Tell. I loved to hunt around my house for an object I could bring to school with a story. It’s not hard to see why I was drawn to journalism - being a reporter is the grown-up version of Show and Tell. I also loved to show off and perform bike and roller-skating stunts. Yet somewhere along the way I lost the joy of being seen. Instead, starting in my teenage years, the desire came coupled with shame, dread, anxiety, embarrassment, even outright mortification. I don’t think I’m unusual in this, especially among women.

It is scrutiny by the general public that keeps the powerful honest.

I get it. It is always easier to go after the person raising a problem than to deal with the problem itself, especially if that problem is systemic.