As mrsparky notes, this may hold for commercial designs but what about military ones (and others, say, NASA)?  At least in the US, all military objects actually belong to me (and all Americans).  We foot the bill, the government contracts out, and the companies build them.  Considering that I paid for these designs and the government cannot rightfully (and I say that knowing full well what the government does otherwise) withhold that information on any grounds.  Their current ideology is to use 'top secret' status to protect against designs falling into 'enemy hands'.  To quote one of my favorite human beings ever, Benjamin Franklin:

The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either.

We are slowly slipping from a Democratic Republic into something else.  That never happened before, did it?  I'll just ROME around and contemplate that...  ;D  Rome wasn't a Democracy - just a Republic - but they did have a sort of President (the Consul).  But the Consul was also the head of the Senate and therefore combined the presidential:vice-presidential powers we know today.  We all know that the first Caesars started as Consul and then took dictatorial powers - Julius and Augustus (Octavius or Octavian).  The first was assassinated by Senators, the second became the first official Emporer of Rome which would continue for another five hundred years.

Ideally, every bit of information in the Federal government is supposed to be open to public scrutiny - even the prototypical death weapons.  Governments that build weapons in secret are bad governments - and they all do it and ours is no better.

C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. C++ makes it harder, but when you do, you blow your whole leg off.

 -- Bjarne Stroustrup

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