Washington Post editorial: Resist denialist ‘freedom of information’ harassment of climate change scientists | Climate Science Watch

Freedom of information principles are of vital importance in making the actions of powerful government officials more accountable. In that area we are for radical transparency through freedom of information requests, whistleblowing, and other means when needed. But Climate Science Watch believes scientists and scholars who are not acting as agents of government or public institutional policy should generally be protected from communication-chilling fishing expeditions. In our view, their right to communicate freely and frankly with each other, about whatever, generally outweighs the public’s right to read their email and unpublished drafts – any more than we have a legitimate right to record their in-person conversations with each other over coffee or a beer.