Abstract
Secrecy is the greatest enemy of democracy and science: the key to their advance lies in the wider spread of knowledge, the only natural resource which is constantly increasing. The arguments for and against secrecy, external or internal security, are analysed and illustrated with British and American examples. Commercial and individual secrecy are reviewed, and the techniques of how secrecy is upheld and how it is broken are given in some detail. Five reforms are urged to make private knowledge public, thus to safeguard democracy and the scientific tradition of freedom which depends on it.
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