I've just returned from spectating at my first panel at the Law and Society conference in cloudy Berlin (cloudy and cool, which, along with tons of rain, is what I dream about when I dream about Europe, but boy, the southern part of the continent, I can attest from experience, is hot hot hot).  It was on secrecy in government - and it is a au courant topic, given all the claims of privilege being made by the government today.  I think it is fair to say that the panelists were critical of all this secrecy, and maybe that is appropriate, since the government does, in theory, serve as an agent to the principal that is its people.

But it seems to me that you have to make a principal-agent sort of argument to justify transparency in government (which, believe me, I am for).  Does anyone really think that there aren't benefits to secret, private deliberations?  Corporate boardroom debates, as the HP case underscored, are private on pain of the duty of loyalty, and companies in general - that is, private ordering - choose, in general, to be as secret as heck.

For more, consider Co-Op blogger Dan Solove's essay on having nothing to hide.  Maybe the Glom community can get him some additional much needed downloads.

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