Missouri Governor Sued Over His Office's Use Of Self-Destructing Communications

from the opacity-enthusiast-first,-public-servant-a-very-distant-second dept

Missouri governor Eric Greitens, along with his staff, are the targets of a recently-filed public records-related lawsuit [PDF]. Two St. Louis County attorneys are accusing the governor of dodging public records laws with his use of Confide, an app that deletes text messages once they're read and prevents users from saving, forwarding, printing, or taking screenshots of the messages.

The governor's use of the app flies in the face of the presumption of openness. The attorneys are hoping the court will shut down the use of Confide to discuss official state business. The governor has argued an injunction would constitute prior restraint.

In the brief filed Tuesday, Greitens’ attorneys argue that blocking use of the app is improper because it would prevent the governor and his staff from using Confide to send “purely personal, non-work-related messages.”

“Such an injunction also would run afoul of these employees’ First Amendment right to freedom of speech,” the governor’s attorneys said.

Certainly the use of Confide is no different than government employees discussing official business in conversations, either in person or by phone. The conversations occur and then vanish into the ether with no publicly-accessible paper trail to prove their existence. But the use of self-destructing text messages certainly invites government officials to "talk around" their constituents by preventing the creation of FOIA-able records.

There's no telling what's being discussed via Confide and that's kind of a problem. The governor claims no official business takes place within the app, but given his lack of candor about the subject, this claim is very difficult to believe.

First off, Greitens' office is still being investigated for its use of Confide. Reporters for the Kansas City Star uncovered this fact during early explorations of the new governor's penchant for secrecy. When asked about app use, Gov. Greitens refused to respond. A public records request seeking the date the app was installed on the governor and staffers' phones was greeted with this incredible response.

“As to Request No. 2, any responsive records would be considered closed … as the disclosure of this information would impair the Office of the Governor’s Security Division’s ability to protect the Governor and his staff, and the interest in non-disclosure outweighs the public interest in disclosure.”

The governor basically claimed allowing the public to learn what date the app had been installed would compromise the safety and security of the governor and his employees. This bizarre use of a security exemption followed the governor's spokesman stating clearly -- and incorrectly -- that no one in the office used the secretive messaging app.

This new wave of opacity has Greitens' name all over it. Once he took office, the clampdown on transparency began.

Members of his taxpayer-funded transition team were required to sign gag orders banning them from discussing their work publicly. His office continues to withhold emails from the transition, refusing to turn over emails from individuals who played key roles but who conducted public business using private email accounts.

He broke with tradition when he refused to disclose how much lobbyists and corporations donated to fund his inaugural festivities, and his use of private planes for official travel often leaves Missourians in the dark about who is picking up the tab.

[...]

When responding to requests for public records, the governor’s office often charges fees some argue are exorbitant, and the time it takes to turn over those records can stretch out for months.

Given the background, it's hard to believe the app is solely used to discuss personal matters. If it's being used to discuss official business, those conversations need to be moved to a platform that allows saving and retrieval of messages. Or, if the governor so desires, he can move all these conversations to the physical plane and speak directly to staffers and other government employees. If he feels his office deserves this level of secrecy, he should put a little more sweat/elbow grease into his opacity efforts. If there's truly nothing to hide, then there's nothing to fear from using normal, non-self-destructive communications channels.

Filed Under: confide, eric greitens, foia, freedom of information, missouri, self-destructing messages, transparency

Sean Spicer Launches Witch Hunt Over The 'Secure' App He Just Said Was No Big Deal

from the keep-up dept

So here's a story that goes from weird to bizarre in record time. A few weeks ago, Axios was among the first to report that White House staffers were using an app called "Confide" to make use of its disappearing message feature, specifically to avoid putting things down on the record, that might later be leaked or revealed:

We spoke with one influential GOP operative who is using the app. He told us he especially likes that Confide makes it harder to take a screenshot—you have to slide your fingers over text and it only captures a portion of the screen. He also likes the integration with iMessage, allowing him to write self-destructing encrypted messages within the confines of the iPhone's standard-issue messaging platform.

He says Republicans like him are especially paranoid about their communications after Hillary Clinton's email scandal. "For folks that are on the inside in this city, it provides some cover," he said.

Among those found to be using the app? Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who got upset that anyone might think it was a big deal that the app was on his phone:

BuzzFeed News found the phone numbers of Spicer, along with Hope Hicks, the director of strategic communications, via a feature that allows users to see friends who have already joined.

In a phone call with BuzzFeed News, Spicer confirmed that he used the app, but said that he had done so only once, when asked to by a reporter “months ago.” He offered to show a BuzzFeed News reporter his phone as proof.

“I downloaded it, but I’m glad to show anyone my phone and that I’ve literally sent one message on Confide,” said Spicer. “These are personal phones… I also have iTunes on my personal phone, Solitaire, and other apps. Frankly I think the idea that you guys are writing a story, the idea of what apps I use on my phone, is an invasion of my privacy.”

Of course, if the messages are deleted soon after sending, as the app advertises, then showing the app to a reporter doesn't really prove much of anything. Either way, hold that thought.

Security experts have ripped apart Confide, saying that it's claims of being secure are "a triumph of marketing over substance," however others in the White House are making use of an app that is generally considered more secure: Signal.

And, apparently, that has some in Congress worried that the apps are being used not to undermine things like federal record keeping laws, but rather that it may be used by people inside the government to go undermine the administration or to leak information to the press.

And, indeed, this weekend it was reported that Sean Spicer (remember him from above?) conducted a surprise leak crackdown last week, ordering staffers into a conference room and then searching their phones for Confide or other apps, and telling them not to use such apps:

Upon entering Spicer’s office for what one person briefed on the gathering described as “an emergency meeting,” staffers were told to dump their phones on a table for a “phone check," to prove they had nothing to hide.

Spicer, who consulted with White House counsel Don McGahn before calling the meeting, was accompanied by White House lawyers in the room, according to multiple sources.

There, he explicitly warned staffers that using texting apps like Confide — an encrypted and screenshot-protected messaging app that automatically deletes texts after they are sent — and Signal, another encrypted messaging system, was a violation of the Presidential Records Act, according to multiple sources in the room.

Leaving aside, for now, the humor in this information (of course) then leaking to the press, it does seem somewhat amusing that Spicer is now suddenly running surprise phone checks on staff members over these apps when he, himself, admits to having used at least Confide, and his insisting that its presence on his phone was really no big deal. Remember, "Frankly I think the idea that you guys are writing a story, the idea of what apps I use on my phone, is an invasion of my privacy." And yet... it's not such an invasion of privacy to suddenly order lower ranked staff members into a conference room to do a "phone check" to see if they have any of those apps on their phones?

Filed Under: confide, donald trump, encrypted chat, leaks, sean spicer, signal, trump administration, white house