I trust that this piece is clear and grammatically correct. I’ve tried to keep things simple, and hopefully the reader’s brain, like the Google Search Bar, is able to correct for errors that slip through.
A concept of modern day law, which has no doubt resisted the scrutiny of time, will inevitably come to pass as something else. That, however, is in the future. The Intergalactic Federation, for example, may see the law as junk. Assuming that, like most science fiction, the Intergalactic Federation exists, we can imagine that this law would be grossly out of date. We can even imagine the reasons.
The principles of the right to know are simple, and convenient for our purposes. The right to know, the crux of this writing, is the law of the land that allows an entity right of access to information, which may include information such as corporate documents and government documents. In an alien society, this may even include access to medical and genetic records. Of course, the current purpose(s) of the right to know law is much more complicated. It allows insight into the inner workings of companies, the state, and many other institutions. It gives the public a window into secret dealings, and is an effort to shine a light in dark places. Namely, the dark places where corruption may fester. In the alien world, however, the ability to shine a light on these things may not exist. Not in the same sense that it exists in the minds of mankind. Like the right to know law, transparency may be that which was once only a fleeting thought. Now however, with advancement in technology, the right to know law is a societal necessity that revolutionizes our connection to one another.
The right to know, a law that is now incorporated into the very nature of the Internet and its use, is not naturally occurring. It is a law that evolved from a series of events throughout history. On October 4, 1941, Margaret Chase Smith introduced the first modern day whistleblower law by sponsoring legislation that granted ex-employees of the U.S. government the right of access to classified documents under the Freedom of Information Act. This was done at the time because government entities were keeping secrets from one another and needed a threshold of transparency amongst themselves. The passing of this law encouraged other states in the union to do the same, and thus the right to know blossomed. A natural progression to the past as much as the future. As the human race has stepped into the realm of space travel, it is only natural to assume that our laws and systems of governance will attempt to become unified with other fledgling civilizations. It is commonly known that traveling through space is no different than traveling through oceans in terms of dangers that await. And so it will be with the right to know. In the event that we encounter alien life during our travels, the right to know will likely evolve into something either more or less. It is easy to believe that a social system that allows free flowing information is likely going to be at odds with self-preservation, especially if the opposite is true. Imagine, then, that we encounter the Intergalactic Federation and their right to know law is designed to protect trade secrets, mechanical trade secrets, pharmaceuticals, military secrets, etc. We could make the assumption that the right to know will continue to exist as long as mankind continues. There is an intricate relationship between information and power, one that is greater than the sum total of each party. When alien races are involved, however, a greater argument must be made for a right to know. Two years after the introduction of the first right to know, Representative Smith was invited to give a testimony to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight. To the alien race, Smith’s testimony might be summed up in one sentence: “In situations where the safety of the public is at stake, there is no excuse for conversion of public knowledge into private emblems of the world.” Just as the aliens might wonder about the motives of mankind, so too would mankind wonder about the motives of aliens. The Internet makes the world smaller, and the more that we communicate with other intelligent lifeforms in the universe, the more human nature is apt to feel accepted by the vast majority. A right to know may prevent the exploitation of one intelligent being by another. Or, it may prevent the infiltration of another world by hostile forces. At its core, the right to know is not so much a law, as it is a culture. A culture that agrees on fundamentals of civility, that is copratory and common. It is a self-correcting mechanism by which intent is implicated on reason. No longer will we be limited by geography and the confines of oceans, something that has kept us self-centered and self-referential. Now, what was only once a distant star is our neighbor, and we expect our neighbors to protect our worlds just as well as we protect our own. If you do not have a right to know law, right now, it may be time to rethink the role of transparency in your culture.