diff --git a/packages/webui/src/reads.mjs b/packages/webui/src/reads.mjs
index 01224d15..985a43dd 100644
--- a/packages/webui/src/reads.mjs
+++ b/packages/webui/src/reads.mjs
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ export function businessView(b, { system = null, now = Date.now() } = {}) {
 export function consoleReads({ root, system = null, configDir = null, rolesDir, business = null, env = process.env, queueTimeoutMs = 30000, now = () => Date.now() }) {
   const dataRoot = system?.dataRoot ?? null;
   const redact = redactor({ configDir, dataRoot });
-  const fail = (code, message) => new ReadError(code, redact(message));
+  const fail = (code, message) => new ReadError(code, message);
   const queue = queueReader({ root, env, timeoutMs: queueTimeoutMs });
   const readQueue = async () => {
     try { return await queue(); } catch (err) { throw err instanceof ReadError ? fail(err.code, err.message) : fail('read-failed', 'the queue read failed'); }