May 5, 2007 2:14PM 

# Congress Backs Official Idiocy 

By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) 

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Here’s Congress siding with [Boston’s idiotic public officials](http://www.techliberation.com/archives/042001.php). The [Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act of 2007](http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_SN_735.html) would allow government officials to sue people who fail to promptly clear things up when those officials mistakenly think that they have stumbled over a terrorist plot.

There’s nothing in the bill allowing individuals or corporations to sue government officials when hare-brained overreactions interfere with their lives and business or destroy their property.

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) 

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