From the review: “Because the public cannot interpret or understand much of the data released by the government, transparency leads to wrong conclusions about actions and motivations of elected officials and civil servants. Learning which industries fund your senator can lead to harmful cynicism about the political process as a whole.”

AM: Despite the fact that we live in a democracy, where people are trusted to elect their public officials, voters are, according to Lessig, too stupid to really understand what is going on. So the government should only be transparent on occasion, when smart people like Lessig think you may be able to understand what is going on, and it won’t confuse your little head.