Where's The Line In What Sorts Of Gov't Communications Need To Be Recorded?
from the fine-lines dept
With the rise of new forms of electronic communication, there have been growing problems in figuring out what sort of government communications need to be recorded and preserved. You may remember that there were concerns early on that President Obama wouldn't be allowed to use his Blackberry. Some of those concerns were over security issues, but also there were fears about how every message would need to be recorded and available to the public at some point. This was the same reason that former presidents Bush (the younger) and Clinton did not use email while in office. Down in Florida, apparently, they're going through a debate concerning the use of Blackberry devices, since Blackberries have a special "PIN to PIN" messaging system that works among Blackberries, where those messages aren't recorded -- and certainly, many politicians (and lobbyists) are making use of the system to communicate outside of the "official channels" to avoid having it recorded.While some are saying this is a reason why Blackberries shouldn't be used at all by these politicians, that seems to miss the point. Yes, it may seem troubling that lobbyists and politicians can and do communicate without any record, but is getting rid of Blackberries really going to solve the issue? For the entire history of the country politicians and lobbyists (from before they were called that) were able to communicate without recording the details through the high tech method of speaking to each other face to face. Saying that all communication needs to be recorded and archived in some manner ignores that plenty of conversations take place by voice all the time that have no such recordings and no way to trace them back. So, yes, worry about corruption between lobbyists and politicians, but focus on the actual issue, not on trying to cut off one of many different ways they might communicate.
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Filed Under: politicians, public records, records
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cuz
In Canada, there is growing concern over 'amoral' political aides giving orders to bureaucrats. In one example, a political aide ordered govt workers to block the release of information requested under the Access to Information Act.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Code+conduct+sought+amoral+political+aides/2568225/story.h tml
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Re:
Sent from the Blackberry of Gov. Patrick Quinn
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backroom deals
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Face-to-face communication needs to be, well, face-to-face, and this is something that can be observed by third parties. You can try to do face-to-face in total secret but that won't work for a very long time (think drivers, spouses, secretaries).
The fact *that* you're talking to someone is important information, sometimes even more important then what you're talking about.
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Let them
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Re: Let them
That way these slippery politicians could continue to {Redacted by Sys/EchelonNET}.
Phew, good thing such a system doesn't exist....
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Recording conversations
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Recording conversations
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