[Resolved] Emergency Transparency Act - News Article + Policy Change

[BurgerBB]

Quote

You're at your workbench, debugging a circuit. You hear laser fire in the distance, followed by yelling. You think it might be the security department doing training exercises, but you're not sure. You ignore it for a bit until an announcement comes on.

"The Internal Security Department is currently dealing with a security issue. Please remain in your sectors."

You obey, and think back to the sounds you heard earlier; it must've been just tasers or some machinery. Your coworkers go back to work. 3 minutes later, a lone gunman bursts into the room and starts firing indiscriminately. Screams are heard from all corners of the room as all your coworkers are shot with laser fire. One of them skims your lower torso. You're knocked down on the floor, limp from the immense pain as more laser fire whizzes from above you. it his a breaker box and kills the lights. You see a few flashes of crimson, and then, nothing but silence.

You look around the room with the limited visibility you have, still wincing in pain, but not any louder to prevent the silence from breaking, but you do not know why. You're next to your coworker, Charles Lee-Harvey, who you shared a beer with about a week ago. They have a visible hole in their chest. You check their pulse as carefully as you can. No pulse. You lay there under your desk next your friend for what feels like an eternity until the silence is broken.

 "Is there anyone there?" A voice calls out.

You remain silent with the rest of the room. You see an intern hiding under their desk quivering with their mouth covered.

"Hello?" again, the voice calls out. It almost seems fatherly.

The room is quieter than a summer night. A spotlight scans the room, reminding you of the white moon on Earth.

You hear footsteps, and a woman betraying the silence by crying.

"Please, it's okay. It's over."

BIESEL - This was an excerpt from one the "Survivor's Accounts: Preventable Tragedies" that is currently being distributed by the "Fund for Corporate Transparency"; a tau ceti based pro-corporate accountability crowd-sourced organization that's considered one of the most influential organizations of it's type in tau ceti space. They made news last year when their researchers discovered that several of the new compounds the Getmore company used in it's products were found to be the same chemicals used in some brands of cleaning products, but now they're making news this year by further damaging the Hephaestus Industries image. Free copies of the first chapter of "Survivor's Accounts: Preventable Tragedies" which shares the story of Richard Germandi, a survivor of infamous Hephaestus Production Station Shooting of 2454 to spread awareness of the event and the internal investigation that took place after.

According to leaked documents, the investigation found that Head of Sector Security Robert R. Kelly knew exactly the shooter's means, motive, and opportunity before the announcement was made, with some investigators claiming that if such information, including the severity of the security threat, was broadcasted to Richard Germandi's sector, 12 people would likely still be alive that day and could've had the opportunity to escape or lockdown the sector. Richard Germandi agrees with the investigator's claims, stating that "given the emergency preparation awareness drills that we have yearly, we could've shut the entire sector down if we knew what the threat was. I would've still had a friend and his children would've had a father."

Despite the thorough investigation done by the internal investigation team, Head of Sector Security Robert R. Kelly was allegedly only lightly reprimanded for his actions via a pay-cut of 5-10%. Thanks to the leaker, the story took off in chatrooms all over the extranet, with several thousand tau-ceti citizens petitioning their government for more accountability. 4 years later, the activism finally paid off.

After thousands upon thousands of emails to lawmakers about the issue, a new bill was introduced last year that set regulations for companies operating in Tau-Ceti space. It states that if there is an emergency situation, the following information must legally be disclosed through alert broadcasting systems:

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1. The type of hostile threat (such as an invasion, rogue intelligence, biological hazard, intruders, or active shooter)

2. The last reported location of the hostile threat, to the nearest reasonably described area, if any.

3. One or more of these conditions can be ignored or disregarded if there is a reasonable belief that the information provided will lead to a greater loss of life than if it wasn't provided.

The bill officially comes into effect January 1st, 2460, however some corporations are already implementing policies to make announcements or automated emergency systems. NanoTrasen, for example, has recently updated their lifeform detection technology to detect the specific location of a group of unauthorized lifeforms on the station, such as a rat or lizard nest. Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals is currently working on technology that detects foreign blob-like alien masses, such as dionaea, to woo it's Skrellian investors. Einstein Engines revealed a prototype recently that detects incoming bluespace signals with 100% accuracy, however NanoTrasen is currently suing that design over patent infringement.

 

 

OOC Justification:

Basically I feel that Command staff are absolutely too secretive when it comes to detailing threats. I feel that this lore article and a policy change will help non-security crew feel more involved and aware of the current situation. It would also be useful for rev rounds as well for when command is being too secretive.

 

Edited January 3, 2019 by Coalf

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

@Synnono @Garnascus

[Scheveningen]

14 hours ago, BurgerBB said:

Basically I feel that Command staff are absolutely too secretive when it comes to detailing threats.

This is usually the case because when command starts informing people about what's going on when it's ultimately not really necessary to let everyone in on the need-to-know, there's always a group of people that have to directly insert themselves into danger regardless of whether or not they're a character that can bring anything to the table in resolving the problem with the threat.

It's not believable character behavior for command staff members to stop and tell a group of bored assistants what's going on, in my opinion. That time could be better used trying to communicate with command staff and organizing plans on what to do. There's always been a need-to-know basis when it comes to dealing with antagonists because it makes sense ICly.

"No, I can't stop to tell you what's going on right now, if you're not already on the need-to-know, it means I don't need your help right now" is not a particularly insidious statement, yet command staff get constantly lambasted when they try to lower the amount of people that potentially endanger themselves because the offending individuals got told the exact context of what's going on and end up trying, whether told to or not, to help, despite being often unqualified ICly to deal with the situation.

Each command staff player has their own way of running their department and whether they exercise the need-to-know basis method or not, it's their way of running the show.

If you think you know better than the wide assortment of command players doing their job, why not apply for a command whitelist and do better?

I find this lore canonization application to be an odd precedent because it looks to try and change/force certain behaviors.

Edited December 7, 2018 by Scheveningen

[Elliot]

Please see the below thread as it is very similar to this and is currently being looked at by the CCIA as a possible station directive addition.

 

[Coalf]

Due to the resolution of the other suggestion I'll be archiving this one.

Locking and archiving.