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Open Gov't Advocates Fear that Private Messaging Apps Are Being Misused by Public Officials To Conduct Business in Secret (pbs.org)

Posted by msmash on from the other-side dept.

The proliferation of digital tools that make text and email messages vanish may be welcome to Americans seeking to guard their privacy. But open government advocates fear they are being misused by public officials to conduct business in secret and evade transparency laws. From a report: Whether communications on those platforms should be part of the public record is a growing but unsettled debate in states across the country. Updates to transparency laws lag behind rapid technological advances, and the public and private personas of state officials overlap on private smartphones and social media accounts. "Those kind of technologies literally undermine, through the technology itself, state open government laws and policies," said Daniel Bevarly, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. "And they come on top of the misuse of other technologies, like people using their own private email and cellphones to conduct business." Some government officials have argued that public employees should be free to communicate on private, non-governmental cellphones and social media platforms without triggering open records requirements.

4 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Ironic, isn't it? by quonset · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We have the government saying encryption is thwarting their efforts to gather information on people, while at the same time (some) government folks are saying it's perfectly reasonable for them to use apps which thwart the public's effort to gather information on them.

  2. Re:You can’t have it both ways by mrbester · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, because government is accountable to the people, not the other way around.

    --
    "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
  3. Re:You can’t have it both ways by Holi · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, this is wanting governments to follow the laws they passed. Open government laws require that records are kept and trying to get around that is illegal.

    What we need are stronger punishments for this activity as we already have decided that these acts are against the law.

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
  4. Re:Before the digital age ... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's nothing illegal about a government official buying a burner phone to call people with.

    But it is illegal to use that phone for government business.