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Republicans Are Reportedly Using a Self-Destructing Message App To Avoid Leaks (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Trump administration members and other Republicans are using the encrypted, self-destructing messaging app Confide to keep conversations private in the wake of hacks and leaks, according to Jonathan Swan and David McCabe at Axios. Axios writes that "numerous senior GOP operatives and several members of the Trump administration" have downloaded Confide, which automatically wipes messages after they're read. One operative told Axios that the app "provides some cover" for people in the party. He ties it to last year's hack of the Democratic National Committee, which led to huge and damaging information dumps of DNC emails leading up to the 2016 election. But besides outright hacks, the source also said he liked the fact that Confide makes it difficult to screenshot messages, because only a few words are shown at a time. That suggests that it's useful not just for reducing paper trails, but for stopping insiders from preserving individual messages -- especially given the steady flow of leaks that have come out since Trump took office. As Axios notes, official White House business is subject to preservation rules, although we don't know much about who's allegedly using Confide and what they're doing with it, so it's not clear whether this might run afoul of those laws. It's also difficult to say how much this is a specifically Republican phenomenon, and how much is a general move toward encryption.
Aren't they required to conduct all government business on government systems? Didn't Hilary got a whole lot of crap (and lose an election) over this?
Welp, they're in charge so I guess they get to make the rules, but did they even bother to change the laws first?
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I wonder if they still want that backdoor to that encryption sitting there for someone to stumble on...
Government business, not party business.
Hillary "got a whole lot of crap" for a couple of things.
(1) She tried to circumvent public record keeping requirements by using a private E-mail server for government business.
(2) She received classified documents on her private E-mail server, shared the documents with unauthorized people, and was responsible for exposing those documents to hostile governments.
(3) She destroyed evidence.
(4) Hillary also used private E-mail for party business, which is legal. What got her in trouble there was that her security was poor, that her mail got leaked as a result, and that it contained lots of politically embarrassing and damaging information.
There is no evidence that Trump or the GOP are doing any of this. Furthermore, the only possible use of an app like Confide would be for purpose (1), but that is something government officials can already achieve simply by making a phone call or meeting in person.
It's funny how having different opinions on various topics now sounds so outrageous to a lot of people. Maybe it is, in this world of media bubbles.
it's Republicans doing it so it's OK.
Whilst I believe you are being facetious, your post outlines the problems with partisan political supporters (of all sides), they consider something to be wrong only if it is done by those they don't support.
Only democrat's claim there was nothing actionable, but ask the people been jailed for mishandling classified information if they feel the same?
"If you're doing nothing wrong then you've got nothing to hide"... is that how the saying goes?
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Quick question: Doesn't this violate the government regulations regarding destruction of records?
https://www.justice.gov/usam/c...
and:
https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen...
After all, if Trump’s tweets are now presidential records (and, by law, they are), wouldn't these also be included under those rules?
"Federal records may not be destroyed-except in accordance with the procedures described in Chapter 33 of Title 44, United States Code. These procedures allow for records destruction only under the authority of a records disposition schedule approved by the Archivist of the United States. NARA issues a General Records Schedule (GRS) that gives record descriptions of records that are common to most Federal agencies and authorizes record disposals for temporary records."
Yes, yes, I know, "But Hillary Hillary Hillary....", right, I get it, but if her doing it was illegal (and I think it was), how can this be legal?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I think what GP means is this:
Most government agencies, such as the FCC, FTC, and FBI, act on the authorization of *Congress*. Congress made a law creating the FCC, and granted the FCC certain powers. Congress can do that because the Constitution gives them that power. When Congress created the FCC, they also put limits on it. The a law, passed by Congress, that says "the FCC can regulate phone companies, and when they do, they must preserve their records according to a, b, and c. So these federal agencies created by Congress have to operate the way Congress specifies. Congress can create records retention rules for the agencies they create.
On the other hand, the Presidency was *not* created by Congress. The President gets his authority directly from the Constitution. The Constitution gives the President the power to control the military, to conduct international relations, etc - without asking Congress for permission. Because the Constitution gives the President certain powers, Congress has no authority to say "you can't do that unless you do it our way". The President can conduct his Constitutional authority in any way he sees fit. The Constitution says he's commander in chief of the military, so Congress has no authority to say that he must send all military orders using this system or that system.
Other Presidential powers *are* granted by Congress, and can therefore be regulated by Congress, so *in theory* they could regulate how he uses those powers, but the courts, the Congress, and the President traditionally are leery of interfering with *how* the other branch internally conducts their business. They argue about policy, the fight about what laws to make across the nation, but the vice-president (officially the president of the Senate) doesn't comment on the Senate rules of how they operate internally, and the President doesn't tell the courts how to publish rulings, and Congress doesn't tell the president which messaging system to use.
Picking a fight about that stuff internal to another branch is wasteful and counter-productive. If Congress decided to tell the President which messaging apps to use, he could turn around and have VP Pence, who is Constitutionally President of the Senate, start picking at the Senate's internal process. It's not worth it.
Whether it is right or wrong all criminal organisations adopt a policy of destroying records. That way there is no incriminating evidence left lying around. Trump certainly knows how to behave like a gangster.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
It's excellent reasoning when applied to government though. They work for us, and virtually everything they do ought to be open to scrutiny with the exception of genuine national security reasons.
And no, national security shouldn't apply arbitrarily based upon what the government thinks is going to embarrass them, they should have to go to court and get a judge to sign off on the records needing to be protected.
Too bad not everyone is like you.